The vacation begins...

Last Wed, we left our house early--in the middle of the night, really, as far as I'm concerned. It was *before* sunrise (I know, I know--there's a sunrise too?? Who knew?). We'd called a taxi the night before and scheduled a 5:15am pickup. (I couldn't bear to ask any of my friends to give us a ride at that ungodly hour). I had good intentions of getting ourselves to bed early the night before, but it was not to be--with last minute packing to finish and Kevin trying to finish work stuff up and so forth, it was after 1am before we went to sleep. So, needless to say, we were tired.

We caught the 6:05 Amtrak train to Chicago--we paid extra for a sleeper car, which we have learned from past experience is TOTALLY the way to go--comfortable, private, free meals, treated as a "first class" passenger (allowed to board early and so on), and of course, the seats fold into beds! Awesome. We thought we'd be able to get some z's on the way to Chicago, but actually neither of us ever did fall asleep. We did eat a nice breakfast and at least *tried* to sleep, but we arrived in Chicago still groggy and sleepy.

This vacation was actually all about Glacier National Park in Montana, but I decided to tack on some sightseeing in Chicago before and after, since our plane left from there anyway. So the plan was to spend the day in Chicago, then sleep at a hotel near the airport before our flight the next morning. We "only" live about 3 hours south of Chicago, but we rarely make it up there, and there were lots of things on my list that I'd been wanting to see.

I'd planned a jam-packed day of fun sightseeing stuff in the Windy City, but it turned out to be the Rainy City that day, so things had to be rearranged somewhat. Ironically, I had previously spent like 30 minutes agonizing over whether or not to take up precious luggage space by packing the umbrella. I finally settled on bringing one, but when stashed our bags in a locker at the Amtrak station, I forgot to take out the umbrella from the bag. So, naturally, it was raining steadily when we exited the station. It made me grumpy, but actually it wasn't *too* much of a disaster.

We spent the morning by going to the top of the Sears Tower (actually called the Willis Tower now) and standing on their glass-floored skydeck, wandering among Impressionist masterpieces at the Art Institute, and eating lunch at on the 7th floor of Macy's (formerly Marshall Field's).

Then, we took a bus (and consequently learned what it feels like to be jammed into a sardine can) to Navy Pier, where we got tickets for a river boat architecture tour and for the ferris wheel and other Navy Pier rides. We had bought "Go Chicago" cards, which covered everything we did this day and saved us lots of money. They were only good until 5:30 that evening, but in the case of the architecture tours, you just showed the card and then could pick up tickets for tours later in the day. Also, the man at Navy Pier told us the ride tickets didn't expire, even though the Go Chicago cards did. So, having picked those up, we had our evening activities all set.

We next rented bikes (also covered by the Go cards) and rode them along the lakefront down to the Field Museum and the Aquarium. By this time, it had stopped raining and was instead swelteringly hot and humid. But we enjoyed the ride nonetheless. The museum and aquarium were neat, but we were really running out of steam by this time, so we left a bit early to give ourselves plenty of time to ride back before the bikes were due. It's a good thing we did, too, because it started raining as we rode, and as we were arriving back at Navy Pier, the rain started to be torrential.

We decided now would be a good time to go inside and get some dinner. I was hoping that by the time we were done, the rain would have stopped or at least let up, but oh no--if anything, it was raining even harder. AND, there was a tornado watch and/or warning (we heard different things from different people), so pretty much everything was shut down for the evening--our architecture tour was canceled, and the ferris wheel wouldn't be running. I was able to get a rain check ticket on the tour, and luckily our Navy Pier tickets didn't expire, so we could use them when we got back to Chicago. But, it was a little disappointing to not go up on the ferris wheel and see all the lights at night, especially since we had done that the night we got engaged! Ah well. We were so tired by then, actually, that it was somewhat of a relief to just take a taxi to just ourselves to our hotel for the night and rest.

It wasn't the perfect start to our vacation, but we did have some good times that day. The crowds and heat/humidity certainly made more more excited to be going to Montana the next day!

Quit bugging me!

Yesterday I decided to work in our garden--pulling weeds and harvesting some green beans and so forth. (It really needed it, since we've been gone out of town for a week and a half and weeds grow like, um, weeds around here.) It was late afternoon, not dusk or anything, but I still got myself about 10 enormous mosquito bites that itch like the dickens. (Do the dickens itch?) These are not your run-of-the-mill bites, either--we're talking like two inches across, giant welt-looking mosquito bites. AND, to top it all off, I got stung by a bee or hornet or wasp or some such painful stingy creature. But, I did get a nice juicy bell pepper out of the deal. Not much of a bargain, actually, I have to admit.

The "G" word

On Thursday my advisor said the "G" word to me. Yep, GRADUATION. It was in a rather abstract and hypothetical context, mind you, but still. I might actually graduate after all! Hurray! He said (and this is VERY uncharacteristic of him) that maybe we should publish a smaller article, not in Science or Nature, on the work I've done recently (plus a few more things I'm still working on), rather than waiting for ALL of it to be done for the "Big Paper". (Ususally my advisor only likes to publish Big Papers). And he said I could probably GRADUATE on that paper, and then I could finish up the rest of the stuff as a post-doc while Kevin finishes up his Ph.D. WOOOOOO! Of course, this is all assuming that I get some more stuff to work as planned, etc. (and if there's one universal truth in research, it's that things NEVER go as planned) but I was still super excited to hear that my advisor is even thinking along those lines. Yay! Maybe I haven't completely wasted the last 6 years of my life after all!

So, obviously, my research has been going well the last few months. Wow, that is a strange thing for me to say/type. I'm very grateful--it makes such a big difference to how I feel to have things actually progressing. I still have lots of work to do, but I haven't felt this optimistic in a long time.

Kevin has been super busy of late, working on various papers and such for his advisor while also trying to release a new product for eFolder (that's the business he helped start before grad school and which he is now CEO for). It's nothing new--he's always super busy, but since about February it's been especially bad. He's also gone out of town like 4 times or something in recent months--mostly to conferences/trade shows for eFolder.

Last week we wrapped up this year's Stake Youth Conference (a 3 day event put on by our church for teenagers 14-18). I was in charge of registration and housing, which was no small task for a group of 250 people (we were actually combined with Peoria Stake as well, and they have twice the number of youth we do)! We had them all staying at host homes in the area--we had about 50 small groups to find places for, print maps for, etc. I also helped with the general running of things. All in all, it was quite exhausting. I slept for 11 hours the night after it was all over! It was a good conference--I think it was really good for the kids to get together and make friends and feel the strength of one another. The theme was "Forever Strong" taken from Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

Kevin and I will soon be celebrating our fifth anniversary (which I can hardly believe)! We decided we wanted to spend some time in the mountains, so we booked a trip to Glacier National Park in Montana. (Yay for frequent flier miles!) I at first thought we would camp, but Kevin vetoed that idea--he has a thing for actual *beds*. I think it's because he's so dang skinny that he has no extra padding for sleeping on the ground. So, it's not going to be the budget trip I was first thinking of. But, hopefully it will be worth it--the park is supposed to be spectacular. If it would just stop SNOWING in Montana, we might actually be able to do some amazing hikes in those mountains. :) I've been looking like a dork wearing my new hiking boots around all the time (with shorts and other various things that do NOT go with them at all) trying to get them all broken in. I'm also trying to get ahold of some of these bad boys:

I have heard they help prevent blisters, especially for people like me who have hammer toes that rub together a lot. We'll see (that is, if I can even find any to buy). Has anyone else ever tried these before?

We're also going to spend the day in Chicago before our flight leaves from there, which is highly appropriate since that's where we got engaged! It should be fun. The best part about the trip: backcountry hiking = no internet access!

Arachnophobia

I HATE spiders. Ever since I was a girl and a spider egg sack hatched in my open window, delivering hundreds of itty bitty spiders right above my poor little reading-in-bed-really-late-at-night face, I have hated them. (I sprayed an entire can of Raid in my room that night. I couldn't even go in there for days afterwards because it smelled so bad). And that movie--Arachnophobia, that came out when I was a kid--scariest movie ever. At least, that's how it seemed to my 10 year old self.

Anyways, back to the spider issue. I have found FOUR spiders in my bathroom in the last few days! A couple of days ago, I was about to step into the shower when a big ugly black spider jumped out at me from the drain. I made Kevin kill that one. Then, a few seconds later, I found ANOTHER spider on the shower curtain (I killed that one myself)! This one was light brown and smaller. Then, the next day there was a long spindly spider on the wall by the toilet (also killed by me). And today when I went to take my shower, there was another furry black spider in the tub! (Not quite as big this time though). What is going on? Did the Spider Association of America decide my privy would be the location for this year's annual convention? Now, I know spiders are helpful for killing bugs that get in the house, so I'm not on any crusade to go out and find them all, but they darn well better stay FAR away from me (and my bathroom) if they want to live another day.

the Easter Feast

Isn't it beautiful? Some of it didn't turn out quite as yummy as I'd imagined (I'm talking about YOU, baby artichokes! Waaaaay more trouble than they're worth), but some things turned out truly outstanding. Our favorite was probably the "Spring Salad with Grapes and Pistachio-Crusted Goat Cheese." Wow. So good. Overall it was a great feast! It's a good thing, because we didn't do any of the "traditional" Easter things like colored eggs or egg hunts (but those ARE deviled eggs on the table there--that totally counts I think. Although, my brother pointed out that it doesn't seem right really to have deviled eggs on Easter) or Easter baskets and such. But it was a lovely Easter nonetheless.

And of course we had a real spiritual feast from all the beautiful messages given at General Conference.

A word about the dress I'm wearing in these pics which I simply must point out--it's a new but old dress that I bought 5 1/2 years ago while I was visiting Kevin in Utah (this was after I graduated from BYU but before Kevin graduated, and we were doing the long distance relationship thing). I went to the BYU bookstore and found the dress on the clearance rack. I tried it on and it was just a little too tight. I decided to buy it since the price was really good, and it was one of those "Jody" dresses that everyone else but me seemed to have while I was at BYU. And because I thought soon I'd loose a little weight and be able to fit in it.................HA! As it turned out, I gained something like 30 or 40 pounds in my first year of grad school--far from losing a few! Anyways, it's been hanging in my closet these long years, and finally I can fit into it now! It is quite exciting. Easter was actually my second time wearing it, but it is still kind of an Easter dress feeling (my mom bought me Easter dresses well into my undergrad years, so it's quite the tradition for me).

Mollifying myself with some lists

Things I got done yesterday:

• Went to choir rehearsal for "Heritage Singers" (we have a way-talented guy in our ward who is getting a Ph.D. in choral conducting and who put together a sort-of-auditioned choir, many of whom are former members of BYU or BYU-I choirs. It's super awesome. He is going to conduct the MoTab someday, I bet. Actually, one of his arrangements is going to be sung in General Conference this time, I hear!)
• Made breakfast/lunch of scrambled eggs and toast
• Refilled handsoap container with "homemade" foaming soap (did you know you can just dilute bathwash or even regular liquid soap and put them in one of those foaming pump bottles and it works just as well as the twice-as-expensive-as-normal-soap stuff you usually have to buy for those?)
• Took a nap (should have exercised, but I was so tired!)
• Went grocery shopping
• Wrapped and mailed my sister's birthday present
• Cleaned out MOUNTAIN of water bottles and other trash that have been in a pile in the back of the Focus for months
• Took a shower (finally) and got dressed in a skirt
• Decorated for and prepared food for our Stake YW Mother/Daughter Dinner which we had yesterday in conjunction with the General YW broadcast
• Attended the aforementioned activity
• Cleaned up after the same
• Did 2 loads of laundry (still one down there waiting for tomorrow)
• Took out the trash and recycling
• Returned 6 library books
• Wrote my "weekly report" for my advisor
• Sorted through a week's worth of mail
• Tidied the living room and kitchen (mostly because my visiting teachers are coming Monday morning!)

Things I didn't get done yesterday (but wanted to):

• Exercise
• Turning over soil and composting our garden plot
• TAXES (eeks!)
• working on my book chapter which is due on the 31st (eeks again!)
• sewed that button that fell off my dress last week
• Finish putting away the laundry
• Wash my winter coat (been meaning to do it all winter..now it's spring!)

*Sigh* Saturdays always go so by so fast. But I feel better now that I made these lists, because the first one is longer. :)

Goodbye, Half-Marathon.

There. I said it. I'm officially giving up on the idea of running the half marathon in Champaign in May. *Sigh* It's all because of my dumb knee. I trained all the way up to 8 or 9 miles (I forgot exactly) , which is actually really close to being done because most training programs only have you train up to 10 miles before you run the race. But then, my knee started hurting and it hasn't really gotten better. I mean, it got better in that it doesn't hurt unless I run. Then, it starts up again. It's so frustrating! I was really enjoying the running and I'm sure--cardiovascularly speaking--that I'm totally up to the distance. I kept harboring a secret hope that my knee would get better and I'd be able to catch up with my training and still run the race. I find myself looking at the joggers outside or in the gym on the track with longing. I just want to run! The stationary bike is so, well, not-that-fulfilling. At least it'll be spring soon and then I can ride outside. *Sigh*