Skinny Jeans

I would just like to announce that to celebrate my loss of 15 pounds I bought my first pair of skinny jeans today. Still not sure how I feel about them, but I think I like them.  I'll let you know when I actually where them.

Baby Gift Find

My best friend from high school and her husband are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their first baby.  He is currently 5 days past due.  I have spent the summer looking for the perfect gift to get the new little addition.  My requirements were that it had to be unique and something that had to do with Memphis.  Finally I hit the jackpot.  I was at the Cooper-Young Festival yesterday and found this little gem.  (For those of you not in Memphis CYF is like a huge street fair.  Very fun.)

I personally think its pretty cute.  I hope they like it!  

Oh and please disregard the messiness of my living room in the background. Thank you. 

Is fall ever going to get here?

I guess I would at least settle for temperatures below 85.  I'm so tired of being constantly hot.  I want fall breezes and light rains and an excuse to drink hot chocolate and actually wear a sweat shirt.  But no, this is what I get to deal with at least for the rest of the month.  Does Memphis not realize its almost October??

The City of Brotherly Love

I'm back from Philly!  And full of inspiration and motivation!  I got to hear some amazing talks from some of the most famous people in the field of cancer metastasis and I cannot tell you how in awe I was at the amount of work that they have contributed.  It makes me want to get right down to business so that in 30 years I can be the one standing up there inspiring new, young scientists.  My poster session also went very well.  I was somewhat nervous, but after the first few people came by with their questions I got into a groove.  People seemed pretty impressed with what I have accomplished so far and were very encouraging to keep going in the direction I had planned.  There were a couple people that even asked me for advice on their projects given what I had found in my experiments!  Overall it was a great experience for my first scientific conference.  And I am already looking forward to the next one I get to go to!

Aside from the conference however, I would like to say that Philadelphia seems to be a pretty cool city.  While our schedule was extremely packed, my boss and I did sneak out for lunch 2 days and dinner every night.  Though we didn't get to do any real site-seeing, walking to and from the hotel and restaurants was great.  I miss being a big city, and Philly is really pretty.  I can definitely imagine myself living there...hmmm...maybe for a post-doc position.....

Anyway, both my boss and I love to eat and were so thrilled to find out that it was restaurant week in Philly!!  This meant that all the really nice restaurants were doing 3 course meals for $35 ($20 for lunch).  Needless to say I had some AMAZING food, seriously they have awesome restaurants.  I had real Philly cheesesteak, the best Italian outside of Italy, Indian, great seafood, and so much more.  And I am not going to lie I have not had a bite to eat since my last lunch there yesterday afternoon, I am still that full.  I am thinking a trip back to Philadelphia is in order with the simple schedule of site seeing and eating.  Anyone want to meet me in Philly??

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One small step for most scientists...

...One giant leap for me.

Tomorrow marks the first day in a total of 4 in another milestone in my life as a scientist.  Early this summer my mentor decided I was competent enough to partake in my first academic conference.  Tomorrow I fly to Philadelphia, PA to spend 4 days with professional scientists from around the country to discuss Tumor Metastasis and the Microenvironment. And as an added perk I get to present a poster discussing all of the important work I've been doing.  I included a little snap shot for you below. Just note that in actuality its about 4 feet x 4 feet.  Let me know if you don't understand anything.  I'd be happy to explain it!

 

Bills, bills, bills

Well I put it off long enough this month.  Had to sit down and figure out the bills tonight.  Most weren't too bad, just the usual.  EXCEPT, I had 5 doctor bills!!! Yes, 5.  I mean I am totally grateful for my health, but I'm not sure I'm 5 bills worth grateful.  Because not only do I have the bills but I also have to pay for all the monthly prescriptions in order to keep my health.  People in the medical profession definitely have it right.  Too bad I picked research.  (Note: Unless you make an amazing discovery, there is no money in research)

On the road again

Running that is.  I knew my old running shoes were getting worn out by the fact that my feet starting hurting really bad and my shins and my knees.  Unfortunately the salary of a graduate student made it difficult to buy a new pair.  But my loving mother and father decided to save me from my pain and buy some for me!  And I finally got to break them in today!  Due to the fact that I was busy with getting things done at work before leaving for vacation and then being on vacation (for 11 glorious days) I didn't run for almost 2 weeks.  My body was so happy to be back out there in beautiful, new shoes!  And in perfect time to start training for the St. Jude half marathon.  Yup, I signed up again.  AND...my mom signed up with me!!!  And she is already kicking my but!  Now lets just hope I don't hurt myself while training again this year.

Oh, and it has been brought to my attention that my blog posts have been close to non existent these last few months.  I just want to apologize to the (very) few of you who actually do read my blog and feel lost without me.  I promise to make a better effort in keeping you up to date on my life happenings :)