missing my dude

well i was just updating my little brother's  (haha or should i say younger brother since he's HUGE) mission blog and it got me thinking about him...and can i just say, wow i miss that kid!!! he reaches his one year mark on his mission on friday! it's gone by so fast.

i've called him "dude" since he was 4' tall and now he's a grown man over 6' tall! what a champ to grow up with 4 older sisters. we joke that he's the glue that holds us all together. he's the perfect balance for all of the girls with different personalities. i miss the little boy that showered 3 times a day on our motorhome trips and put a bandaid on the top of his head when he bonked it. i miss the little guy that used to fall asleep in the family room every night. he'd get so mad when we tried to wake him up and send him to bed. no matter who woke him up, he'd yell "stop it abby!" haha. he was always wise beyond his years, "we shouldn't be good then bad then good then bad...we should be excellent, excellent, excellent!" i remember when he got in a bike accident and i was so scared he wouldn't be ok. i miss watching the cheesy disney channel original movies together every month. i still remember coming home for sunday dinner one week in particular when i was in my first year or two of college and realizing, "wow, Josh is FUNNY!" you know when your younger siblings get old enough that age doesn't matter anymore and you're all just friends?  i miss him jamming on the piano and singing away.

anyway, that's my random ode to josh. i miss you dude!!!!!!!!

giving in to my brain

remember this post about how i have a short attention span and get distracted before a task is complete?? well i finally figured out today that i shouldn't fight it, but embrace it.  example: so i am working on my comprehensive exam (yeah everyone i know is sick of hearing about it but no worries...after friday we will never speak of it again), and I can work hard for about an hour and then i am done. meaning, even after taking a short break to recharge the brain, i just don't want to go back to that question i was working on. well i finally realized there are 7 questions in varying degrees of done-ness.  some are half done...some are done but could use some tweaking...some are almost done but just need one more thought. so turns out if i just switch off which question i'm working on every hour, then i never get bored!! exciting huh?? i have been SO productive today.

this blog is turning out to be liz ranting about nothing. sorry about that.

on a more exciting note, the soccer team steph and i are coaching has their first game in 2 hours! i'm so excited. did i tell you that we voted on the team name and it was unanimous? go LIGHTNING CUBS!!! (random i know, but they chose it and loved it).

mondays

what do your mondays consist of? today, mine is 6 hours of having my students pee in cups so we can measure the volume, pH, and osmolarity of their urine. did i mention i force one of them to drink a LOT, another to down a lot of Tums, another to eat salt tablets, and another to drink lemon juice? and by "force" i mean i ask nicely and they are happy to do it. good times. i love my job. jealous? :)

PS - the kidney is miraculous. it's amazing how every little nephron does its job so well to keep everything balanced so our bodies are happy. have you been grateful for your kidney today?

so sad how true this is

 

insight into liz's brain

so i'm one of those people who can't just do ONE thing. i have to be doing 10 million things at once. i start doing something, and then my mind jumps to something else i also need to do, then about 10 minutes later i think, "wasn't I doing something else?" so then i go back to the first thing, leaving the 2nd thing half done. then all of a sudden i think, "I didn't finish thing #2!"  This cycle can expand to five or six things! luckily, somehow, i usually get everything done...just snippets at at time.


today is a good example: i just barely turned in a research fellowship application (up to $15,000 EXTRA dollars next school year...here's hoping!) that was due by 5 pm today.  So obviously that was priority #1. It was one of those applications that couldn't just have everything in one document. They wanted a file with the proposal body, one with a statement of academic merit (whatever that means), an abstract, AND a curriculum vitae (PS - if you ever feel like you don't accomplish things, make a CV...nothing like writing down all your accomplishments to remind you your life is productive).  So of course i had a bajillion word documents open PLUS a thousand tabs open on google chrome. (do you always have a million things running on your computer at once like i do?)  also, NONE of these things were completely done, so i needed to put finishing touches on all of them.  so of course, i start editing the proposal, then remember "i haven't even started the statement of academic merit!" so i start working on that and i'm super productive for a good 30 min without stopping. then i get distracted by NCAA score updates. when i go back to word, i open the proposal and it hasn't made any progress since i wrote last and i think, "wasn't i just working for 30 min straight??" then i remember it was on the statement of academic merit! so then i start doing the proposal again, and then i got distracted by proofreading my CV! i'm telling you people, it was a crazy day. but i somehow got it all done. all is well. for now.

sidenotes: my ncaa bracket only stayed perfect for like 3 games. sad day.  also, hasn't the weather been GORGEOUS?? it makes me feel like this:

which reminds me...i just got passport pictures taken and they told me i couldn't smile and i definitely did not look as happy as i do above. i'm sure glad we smile in pictures these days (as opposed to the old days when everyone looked depressed in pictures like this...

true beauty

"We do not seek a veneer painted on by a worldly brush but the pure, innate beauty that God has planted in our souls. We should seek after those things that endow higher thoughts and finer impulses."

- President James E. Faust


“to be gentle and kind, modest and truthful, to be full of faith and integrity, … [for] goodness sheds a halo of loveliness around every person who possesses it, making their countenances beam with light, and their society desirable because of its excellency.”

- President Brigham Young

mountains

today i discovered a new favorite: taking a random drive in random scenic neighborhoods i've never been with the windows rolled down and listening to good music. ended up on the mountain overlooking the valley. totally spontaneous. cleared my head. gained perspective. love it. mountains have always been special to me. these are my 3 mountains :)

SAN DIEGO

so this past week i got to go to san diego for the biophysical society annual meeting! basically biophysicists from all over the world get together for a week and share what we're researching. it's one big party! here are the highlights:

*12 hour rides in the 12 passenger van: sleeping. listening to oldies. playing ticket to ride on jared's phone, being productive and doing homework on my laptop (on the way there, not so much on the ride home), texting lauryl even though she was only a few seats away, eating SNACKS, chatting about my project with dr bell, etc, etc.

*eating out a LOT: thai, italian (way fancier than anticipated. like the waiter put your napkin on your lap for you...good old juan), mexican, seafood (think salmon tacos and clam chowder..mmm), sketchy jack 'n the box in the sketchy part of town, etc.

*beautiful run in balboa park (jen i realized we never went again! my bad...sorry friend)

*THE BEACH. i love pondering life while listening to the waves and watching the sunset (yes waking up to a car covered in snow this morning was depressing)

*presenting my poster! had some great discussions about it with other people who care! so fun.

*fun to realize you remember people from past years! that's right...i'm a member of the biophysical society.

*once again helping to get the dance party started! this year i had a swing-dancing, cha-cha-ing friend. loved it!

*bike taxi. no words. this was the most hilarious night of my life.

*lauryl and i trying to out-laugh jared through the hotel walls.

*the great pillow caper that almost ended tragically.

*mike being late...always...

*being photographed at ghirardelli's for their ad compaign. watch for me on the side of a bus!

*watching chick flicks with jen...always a tradition.

*meeting friends from all over the world.

*networking for post-doc opportunities!

*saturating my brain with lots of science stuff!!!

most of these things probably aren't funny to anyone else, but at least i will enjoy reading it in the years to come :) i love what i do!!