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!!

Home

My dad is a gifted writer. His email this morning expressed something I would never be able to express in words, so I wanted to share it.

"We sometimes wonder where our home is—it isn't really on Howey Drive since we're not there. It isn't really here, either.  Our home is really in our connection to each other, wherever we are, in whatever circumstances we are. Our home is carried by these words, and by all of the love and memories and words and hopes and dreams of our hearts. Our home is solid and secure and lasting. It is not dependent upon our being in any timezone or place of residence, or even in mortality or on the other side of the veil. Our home, and the love that fills it, is one of the greatest blessings of our lives.  I love you all so much, and in this moment, I am home with you!"

I believe this with all my heart.  I am grateful for my home :)

L-I-F-E

long time no blog. time for another edition (or rather the first edition but "another edition" sounds better) of...

the AMAZING, the DULL, the NERDY:

first up, the AMAZING:

Brian Regan concert (FREE)

Lady Antebellum on valentine's day:

Long overdue hangout with Annie and the Shawcrofts:

(you get to imagine a photograph here that doesn't exist. picture this: homemade mac and cheese, smallville, qwirkle, and mexican train. also imagine...the later it gets, the harder we laugh...the weirder we get...the more scared ryan gets. good times all around)

Two free nights of bowling in the past month...high score of 85...sure beats that one time in high school i bowled a 9. yes folks...10 frames, 9 pins total. i'm pretty good.

now on to...the DULL (although i am pretty easily entertained so these are all things that make me happy even though they may appear dull to others):

i joined a DINNER GROUP! you know what this means: i'm eating better, I'm spending less, i'm honing my domestic skills and cooking, and making new friends. love this.

MY ROOM IS CLEAN! that's right. this is big. i finally pulled my life back together over the long weekend and man i am so much happier. it makes a huge difference. "only the home can compare to the temple in sacredness" = true story IF it's clean. sweet deal.

i hung up a shelf in the kitched and put cute little things on it. i'm not usually good at stuff like this, but dang it looks good and homey now. yay.

I discovered wordle.net.  mom and dad, i finally went on the site and i'm addicted to making word clouds now! they are so legit. i made one of my patriarchal blessing and my prospectus hahaha. these may or may not be hung in my room in the not-so-distant future.

and on to everyone's fav: THE NERDY:

i have officially scheduled my oral exam for the last week of march! i'm super nervous, but i've started doing review sessions every week with one of my professors and it's secretly getting me kind of excited. yeah we all thought i was a nerd but now it is proven.

i just printed my poster today to present my research in san diego this week!! pictures to come from my lovely nerd adventure.

my friend josh and i went into steph's 6th grade class as visiting scientists to teach about microorganisms! they swabbed for bacteria and everything. this might have changed my life. cute girls writing you thank you cards that say "i might want to be a scientist someday" and kids telling each other, "hey science is COOL" make me happy.  yay science!! we may be going back from round 2: heat, light and sound...so stay tuned for that. oh and also, they call me Dr. Liz. enough said.


well that's another edition of...the AMAZING, the DULL, the NERDY.  that kind of sums up my life recently. except for the dull part. mostly nerdy and amazing.

flies have it so easy

so here i am reading some papers for my developmental genetics class tomorrow and i learn that the males of a certain species of fly (Drosophila biarmipes to be exact) have a pigmented spot on their wing to attract the females.

they flash that baby during courtship to help the females choose a mate. so it got me thinking...LUCKY! all the females have to do is look for male with the best SPOT on their wing. that's it. they have it so easy. if only human males had a spot on their forehead and that's the only thing i had to look for :)

other random tidbit...i am so tired i thought the name of the fly species had the word "armpit" in it and i found it quite humorous until i recognized my error. i wouldn't put it past those developmental biologists to name something "armpit". i mean when you have a ligand called "sonic hedgehog" and a mutant called "one-eyed pinhead," "armpit" doesn't seem so far out there ya know?

have i mentioned i love being such a nerd?

did i also mention that steph and i went to the brian regan concert tonight? amazing. hilarious. i was literally exhausted by the end because i laughed so hard for such an extended period of time.

back to studying fly wings. later.

did you know....?

did you know that i am currently doing an experiment on a fluorometer that is connected to a computer running DOS?? that's right, DOS. we are high tech here. it brings me back to my lemmings days. did you ever play lemmings? good times. good times. I can't wait til I'm 100 years old and i can tell my great grandkids that not only did i access computer games on DOS when i was a kid, but I used DOS as a grad student.  Then they will be like, "grandma, what's DOS?" and I'll say, "DOS was what we had before windows" and they'll say, "grandma, what's windows?" because who knows what THEY'LL be using. then I'll tell them about dial-up internet (if they even know what internet is in 75 years).  i can't wait to be 100 years old.  you can say whatever you want when you're 100 years old! well i'm a quarter of the way there! but anyway the point of this post was to tell you I use DOS and i feel cool. the end.

gov't...you're off the hook

so back in december, i received this little postcard in the mail...a little postcard that said i had to pay TWO HUNDRED TEN DOLLARS to renew my car registration.  as a car owner of only one year, i was not expecting this :( i spent a good hour ranting to annie about how dumb it was... "what do they use the money for anyway???"

well...i just finished filing my taxes...and i'm getting a refund WELL over two hundred dollars. so i decided that for now i'm a happy camper and i won't rant anymore. government, let's call it even!

so of course...me being the funny that i am...have already started plotting what to spend this unexpected money on (yes i forgot about tax refunds until today!!).  recently i have a travel bug...so i immediately began looking up prices of plane tickets to exotic places like:.san antonio (cute nephew and niece live there...oh and my amazing sister and bro-in-law), seattle (my other home), boston (my lab friends hannabeth and kelly live there! a trip there would be so fun), florida (to visit angie and preston!), washington DC (i have always wanted to go there), and new york (ditto).  Well the jury is still out on where i will go...or if i will go. or maybe i'll use the money to take roadtrips in my sweet car that can get 40 mpg on a good day.  how about a trip to oregon to see michelle and janelle (who both moved away from me...or will be in the near future) and then hit seattle while i'm in the neighborhood.  Or i could drop by california again to play with Diane and go to the BEACH.  or i could hit up colorado with abby and ryan to play rancher and ride horses.  or annie and i could take a huge roadtrip across the US just to say we did.  or steph and i could go down to st george and vegas a bajillion times when we need to escape.  or i could drive down to mexico like sara and i plotted...just to say we've left the country. OR perhaps if i found a REALLY good deal, it would be enough to get me to korea, or mongolia, or japan to see my dear mission friends.  or maybe i'll just stop by europe on my way home from visiting ma and pa in siberia. okay now i'm just dreaming...but hey since it's midnight, i feel like the world is at my fingertips!

OR maybe i'll grow up and be responsible and just save the money.... hmmm..... .....NAH!

pretty sure san antonio is at the top of the list!! i need to see my little ella bay again before she gets too big. :)

well that's enough daydreaming for one night.  another school week here i come :) most the time, i'm perfectly content traveling to the cell culture room and back!

yeah, i can hook you up

So my new calling is the institute cochair...translation: i go to institute every week and get class started by asking people to pray, play the piano, etc.  This Wednesday, I was fulfilling my duties as usual. So I walked up to a guy sitting on the front row and said, "how's it goin'?" He stuck out his hand to shake mine and said, "good. I'm Riley." "Hey Riley, nice to meet you! I'm Liz. Would you feel comfortable saying the opening prayer for us?" "Yeah no problem."  Awesome. No big deal.  So I get class started....my new buddy Riley says the opening prayer.  Afterwards, Steph turns to me and says, "Did you ask him to pray?" "Yeah." "Do you know who that is?" "Riley?" "Liz, that's Riley Nelson!" haha BYU's quarterback! Who knew? I certainly didn't know what he looked like close up, sans football helmet and pads.  Maybe you had to be there, but Steph and I laughed for a good 3 minutes (quietly of course because we're super reverent) at my ignorance. good times. so if you need an in, me and riley are tight.

starting 2012 off with a bang!

2012 has been so fabulous so far I think I'm setting myself up for disappointment...

EPIC new years festivities with the fam

 (these included... 2 unfinished games of acquire, little boys with the pukes, sparklers, sparkling cider, auld lang syne, and smallville!)

A last minute trip to SEATTLE with Diane to see our dear friends John and Rosemary sealed in the temple!!

(One of my most favorite experiences of my life. Thanks mom and dad for helping me get there for my birthday present!!)

I TURNED 25!!

(and had a quarter life crisis and dyed my hair darker)

Annie, Abby, and Ryan spoiled me with classic Gibbons birthday signs, mom's cake (courtesy of ryan), presents, and KOREAN FOOD! (hopefully picture to come)

I got to skype with mom and dad while they were on the trans-siberian railway in the middle of NOWHERE. yay for technology! (and then we skyped again at midnight so they could see my hair)

Steph and Kelli kidnapped me for a mystery roadtrip!

ST. GEORGE

and VEGAS

(picture to come)

PLUS LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL DATA I'VE BEEN SPOILED WITH THIS WEEK:

(secret confession, there is also horrible looking data that i do not feel like sharing so you think science is all about success instead of the reality...all about failure haha)

yep, life is good. welcome 2012!