Um Yah Yah - A Minnesota weekend of weddings, friends, fun, oles, & cornfields

This weekend Marc and I flew out to Minnesota for three days. It had been way too long (over a year) since the last time I had been to Minnesota and it turns out one weekend was not nearly enough time. I could spend weeks in Minnesota and it still wouldn't be enough time, but I took advantage of the three days we did have in town and gave Marc a whirlwind tour, showing him many of the reasons I love Minnesota.

We got into town late Thursday night and after checking into our hotel we headed out for a late night dinner at where else but Perkins. Friday morning it was nice to wake up early and have the entire day. We usually travel on Friday and waking up there makes all the difference. We woke up to beautiful weather, stopped at Bylerlys for some flowers and Caribou Coffee and then made our way to Lakewood to leave some flowers for Grandma and Papa Joe.



And of course I couldn't be in Minneapolis in the summer without my favorite activity, walking around the lake. So after Lakewood we headed over to Lake Harriet and had a beautiful walk around the lake. It was a perfect day, sunny with a light breeze, a nice escape from the unbearable Houston heat. The only thing we were missing was Romo. Seeing all the people out with their dogs made us wish Romo could be walking around the lake with us :)


After our wonderful morning walk we stopped at Bylerlys again and grabbed an assortment of salads and sandwiches for a picnic lunch. I couldn't leave Byerlys without a taste of cherry chicken salad. I think even Marc was impressed by Byerlys and could understand why I love a grocery store so much.

After our picnic lunch we got ready for the wedding, which was the reason for this trip in the first place. Mike is my best guy friend from St. Olaf and he is now married to his long time girlfriend from high school, Sheila. Although Sheila didn't go to St. Olaf with us we got to spend a lot of time with her over the years and she was always one of us girls. As soon as she would get into Northfield we would steal her away from Mike for the rest of the evening. Mike and Shiela are two amazing people with huge hearts and Mike is one of my closest friends so it was a treat to be there for their big day, I wouldn't have missed it! We picked up one of my best friends, Annie on our way to the wedding and then headed to the ceremony in Prescott, WI, which is a small town just across the border where Shiela and Sheila's mom grew up. After the beautiful ceremony we headed back across the border to Hastings, MN for the reception. For the first part of the trip Marc was saying that Minnesota was a lot like Conneticut, but as we did more and more driving through never ending corn fields he started to retract that statement :-P The reception was at the Little Log House in the Pioneer Village, which is a small little area that is preserved by the historical society to show what towns in the area used to look like. It was a cute wedding and a lot of fun. Because Mike's dad is a dean at St. Olaf there were quite a few Olaf faculty which was fun to see. We got the chance to catch up with a few Oles and made a few new friends as well.











Saturday we woke up to beautiful weather once again and stopped for my morning Caribou before heading down the 45 minutes to Northfield to spend the day in town and see St. Olaf. Once again Marc had to laugh at the number of cornfields we drove through to get to St. Olaf ;) I was so excited to be back in Northfield, I love just being in town. Our first stop was of course St. Olaf where we took our time wandering around campus. I showed Marc the main building, Buntrock and all the buildings I had lived in and taken class in and then we spent a little bit of time wandering through the new Science building. I was hoping to catch up with my old advisor Gary, but he wasn't there so I left him a note instead. Unfortunately the larger half of the bookstore was closed because they were getting ready for the new school year, but we did find Marc a good Olaf shirt in the smaller part :)

Old Main: The original building at St. Olaf where I took French.


Holland Hall: My favorite building and also the building where I spent most of my time. The psych department was on the first floor before it moved to the new science center and my old lab was in the basement.


Buntrock Commons: The main student building at St. Olaf.


And of course, the St. Olaf windmill.


After St. Olaf we headed down the hill to meet up with Annie and Jen for lunch on division street. We had lunch at our old hang out the Rueb and then wandered into the Hideaway for some coffee and wandered around down town stopping in all our favorite cute shops. It felt just like old times and made me miss Northfield so much.



Saturday night Annie and Jen took us out on the town in Uptown Minneapolis. Annie and Jen are my two best friends and no matter how much time we spend apart every time we get together we have a blast. Every time Annie and Jen come to Houston I can't get over how it feels like we don't live thousands of miles away from each other. The three of us have stood by each other through some of our worst and best moment and we just bring out the silliness in each other and every time we get together we spend most of the time laughing (as you will see in the pictures) . Marc was prepared for our ridiculousness because Annie and Jen have been out to Houston twice now for the rodeo and have had the chance to spend some time with him. For dinner we met up with some of Annie's old friends from high school who I know and we also got to meet up with Julia, who is a good friend from St. Olaf who graduated the year after us and lives in a cute little house just walking distance from the Uptown area. I hadn't expected to get to see Julia and it had been so long, so that was a wonderful surprise. We went to dinner at Fusion, which is a fun, trendy little sushi place that I had never been to.





After dinner we walked over to Stella's and had a drink on the rooftop overlooking the city.


We ended the night with dessert and drinks at Chino Latinos. This is a super fun place where we had my goodbye dinner the night before I left for Houston so it was fun to go back. We had our awesome pineapple drinks where you drink right out of the pineapple, we cooked s'mores right at the table, these are so good with thin sweet crackers instead of graham crackers and caramel and chocolate that you drizzle on top, and Annie, Julia, and I got to do a fun Saki Bomb. Julia and I had never done a Saki Bomb before and it ended up being a mess that entailed more laughing than drinking. It was a wonderful night filled with amazing friends and plenty of laughter. Marc was such a good sport putting up with all our silliness and it was so fun to get to introduce him to more of my Minnesota friends.










Sunday morning we got up, checked out of the hotel, and headed over to Luke and Kate's house in St. Paul to have brunch with my Minnesota family, the Lorenz family. For those of you who don't know the story, my mom and Katy Lorenz grew up across the street from each other and when we spent our summers at my Grandma's house we spent a lot of time with the Lorenz family. The Lorenz family consists of Katy and Steve, Becca who is Kim's age, and Luke who is my age. We grew up playing with Becca and Luke at our grandma's house, at their grandma's house, at their house and always spent some time at their family cabin up North which I adore. We consider each other family and are still close. They are my Minnesota family and while I was far away from home in college I always had family close. The newest additions to the family are Becca's husband Mike and Luke's wife Kate. Both of them have been around since high school and Becca and Mike got married in 2007 and Luke and Kate got married last July. Luke and Kate just bought a cute new house so we went over to have brunch, spend time with the family and check out the new house. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful trip, although it was not nearly enough time with the family as usual.


All in all it was a wonderful weekend in Minnesota. It was so exciting to show Marc around Minnesota, he has heard enough about it, and now I can't wait to go back together again. It's always exciting to get to introduce Marc to important people and places in my life. Although it was a short trip with not nearly enough time to spend with friends and family we did fit a lot in and had tons of fun together. It was a weekend full of fun and beautiful weather and I can't wait to make it back again soon.

"This will be an easy project"

That is a statement I have learned to never believe when Marc says it :) Marc and I really enjoy working on projects around the house, nothing is more satisfying than a finished home improvement you have done yourself, but I have learned that nothing is ever as easy as it seems. But there always seems to be some project we want to take on and over the last month the project has been finishing off the backyard.

This has been a hot summer leaving me wondering why I ever moved back to the South and questioning if there is any good reason to go outside unless I am walking directly to the pool during summer. So how Marc talked me into actually doing manual labor in the middle of a hot summer day, not once, but twice, I am still pondering. The pride in the finished product is the only thing keeping me from never stepping foot outside again and from refusing to ever enter Lowe's again. For now I can claim that my sunburn and muscles are still damaged from this project so we have to wait a while longer until we think of anything else to do. Not to mention this last month has really completed our backyard and we can't think of much we want to change :)

This all started out with a trip to Lowe's to pick up some pebbles for the walkway to the backyard. The walkway is made up of dirt and a light layer of red rocks and tends to collect water when it rains so I wanted to put in a thick layer of pebbles to make it look a little cleaner. While we were at Lowe's picking up these pebbles some patio stones caught Marc's eye. Once we put the picnic table in the backyard the grass underneath it died immediately and he had been wanting to put a patio underneath to make it look nicer. The plan was to wait until it cooled down but all of a sudden instead of going home with a few bags of pebbles we were going home with about 100 bricks, patio sand, and a flattening tool. We moved the patio table dug up all the dead grass and started flattening out the area and measuring. At this point we realized we had calculated wrong for patio pattern and needed more bricks. So we laid down what we had and then returned to Lowe's to pick up a second batch of bricks and to pick up the pebbles we had originally come for. In the end it was a relatively "easy" project that produced a result we were quite proud of. But the fact that it was at least 100 degrees out, there is no shade in our backyard, and those bricks have to be carried one by one into the backyard tainted my definition of easy. Not to mention the hassle we had trying to get rid of the dirt we had dug up. We broke our trashcan loading it into the trash can, found out the trash won't pick up dirt, and ended up spending the next afternoon throwing it over our very tall back fence one shovel full at a time. Despite all that, here are the results of one of our oh so "easy" projects:



Oh and here is the project we actually intended to do:



After being so happy with the patio underneath the picnic table we decided that the next weekend we were in town we would put one underneath the grill, where again all the grass had died. It was such an "easy" project why not right? Plus Marc had somehow forgotten my very stern claim that I was doing no work in the backyard until it was cool out ;) So this weekend we headed back to Lowe's picked up the same patio stones and a few extra bags of pebbles. We had decided we liked the pebbles so much we wanted to place them around the air conditioning units. To our surprise we had gotten grass to grow there but found that it looked a little unhealthy and was hard to maintain, so we decided to dig up the grass we planted and lay down pebbles for a cleaner look.




So after many sore muscles, way too much sweat, a few good sunburns, many hours, and actually not too much money we have completed our backyard and are so happy with the results. And once it gets a little cooler out we will make sure to sped many relaxing hours out there grilling out using the awesome grilling skills Marc was taught by the grill master himself, my dad. There is something so much more satisfying about the fact that we did it all ourselves, I cannot wait to spend time out there. Also I have decided that instead of continuing on in science I will be applying to work for HGTV. Just kidding ;)

The finished Product:



And here are a few pictures of Romo and our little house guest Otis enjoying the backyard a few weeks ago :)

The Red Sox in Dallas

For Marc's birthday this year I got him tickets to the Red Sox vs. Rangers game in Dallas, and last weekend he finally got to make use of that birthday present.

Saturday morning we drove the 4 hours to Dallas/Arlington and enjoyed a fun and unbelievably hot day of sports. The Texas Rangers ballpark is actually in Arlington right down the street from the Cowboys stadium so after we checked into our hotel, which was walking distance from the ballpark, we grabbed lunch at Boston's Sports Bar and then walked over to the Cowboys stadium to check out the pro shop while it wasn't overflowing with people because of a game. To our surprise it was still quite crowded with people taking tours of the stadium, but unlike on game days you could actually walk comfortably through the 3 levels of Cowboys goodies :)

We wanted to be at the Ballpark in time to watch the Red Sox batting practice two hours before the game so after our visit at the Cowboys stadium we walked over to the Rangers Ballpark. The recreational area of Arlington including Six Flags, Texas Rangers Ballpark, and Cowboys Stadium is quite nice and everything is definitely within walking distance but there is no shade in sight and that day it was over 100 degrees. By the time we got to the ballpark I was ready for some water and ready for some air conditioning, but unfortunately that wasn't happening. We got to the Ballpark a little early and ended up waiting outside the gates for about an hour before they lined us all up at the only gate they open ahead of game time and had us wait in line for about 30 minutes before they actually let us in. We probably wouldn't have minded the waiting, but Rangers Ballpark is the only stadium I have every been to in my life where there was not one vendor selling water, food, anything outside the park. For that hour and a half there was no water in sight and by the time they let us all in they had a very hot and annoyed group of fans. Next time we go to a game there we will have to remember to bring a cooler full of water, because they are missing out on a huge money maker, by the time they lined us up I would have paid about $20 for one bottle of water.

Despite the heat and the waiting we finally made it into the Ballpark and once we had each had about 4 $4 bottles of water we had a great time, even though we never got the air conditioning because it is an open Ballpark :) We got to get right next to the field and watch the Red Sox batting practice which was exciting, I had never been that close to the field before. And I even "caught" a ball during practice. OK, I didn't actually catch the ball, we had just gotten inside and Marc and I were standing in the middle of the stands when a Ball came our way with no one else around and rolled right to me. It was my first ball at a baseball game, so I was pretty excited! After a couple hours of watching batting practice we headed to our seats which were about 12 rows up right behind home plate. They were awesome seats and we were so thankful they were actually shaded the entire game, because much of the park was not. While we were waiting for the game to start we noticed Clay Buchholz standing in the Red Sox dugout signing stuff and Marc suggested I go over and get my ball signed, thinking there was no chance that would ever happen I ran down and stood there just to see and to my surprise he actually signed my ball! Another first for me :)

We had already had quite the day by the time the game started and it only got better! It turned out to be a great game and the Red Sox won it in the 9th. It was exciting to watch the game so close, it is really a whole different experience, you feel like you are right there in the game. After the game we walked back to our hotel and were so happy we didn't have to make the drive back to Houston like we usually do for football games. We were sunburned and exhausted and getting to head right to the hotel after was quite the treat, ending our fun day on the perfect note.


Waiting outside for the gates to open. Marc decided to take a little nap while I calculated how much longer I could survive without water ;)



A few shots of the Red Sox up close and personal at batting practice



The view from out seats :)





Go Red Sox!

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.