haven't had a nerdy post for a while...

Well, we just submitted this baby for publication! I started working on this one a little over a year ago...so it feels good to get it done and off! It will be my second paper as the first author (in the science world, first author = legit). They are both in review right now, so here's hoping they get accepted!

Role of Membrane Oxidation in Controlling the Activity of Human Group IIa Secretory Phospholipase A2 toward Apoptotic Lymphoma Cells

Elizabeth Gibbons, Jennifer Nelson, Lynn Anderson, Kelly Brewer, Stephanie Melchor, Allan M. Judd, John D. Bell

On a less nerdy note, I will be running a half marathon in 17 hours and 10 min! An old injury flared up after my 10 mile run on Tuesday, so I might be super slow tomorrow. We'll see...wish me luck :)

Ward Friends!

I was just thinking recently about how much I love my ward. It feels like home. These people have become dear to me. They've made the summer fabulous so far...

BEST HOMETEACHER AWARD:

LASER TAG:

 WARD ACTIVITIES:

DRESSING UP AND RACING GO KARTS:

CHALK ART FESTIVAL AT GATEWAY:

 FOUR WHEELING:

WARD SOFTBALL:

THE SOLAR ECLIPSE:

LATE NIGHT WALMART ADVENTURES:

LAZY DAYS IN THE PARK:

...and let's not forget saturday night...when Tracy and I got sucked into helping Jay, Rich, and Dan try to beat the Emperor on super nintendo star wars in Tracy's fort. I got close! :)

Blessed!

BEAR LAKE!

A couple weekends ago, I got to go to Bear Lake with William, Mitch, and Alyssa. William's extended family owns a bunch of cabins on the lake and as long as I can remember (since I've known him since 1st grade), he's gone there a lot every summer. I've always been super jealous so finally I convinced him to bring me along! Mitch flew in from Seattle for the occasion and brought Alyssa along...a good choice since she was so fun.

I got up early the first morning to take a run...man if I got to run along a lake every day I'd be a lot more motivated :)

We partied on the wave runners...

including a crazy adventure going across the lake for raspberry milkshakes. We decided to beach the waverunners in this muddy area...let's just say we were up to our knees in who knows what that smelled like you know what. Good good times :)


We were super hardcore on the four wheelers...

which is why we got so dirty...

We even found the bridge to terabithia!

And let's not forget all the times Alyssa and I read, suntanned on the beach, or watched "Princess Bride"while Mitch and William got all the toys ready to go. Being a girl has its perks. :) It was a much needed relaxing weekend with good friends!

grateful for family...

This summer, it's been fun to spend a lot of time with family! With the parents in Russia, the Bosters in Texas, and Josh in Mexico... Annie, Abby, Ryan, and I have gotten to hang out a lot! Ryan is such a champ to be the only guy most of the time haha. Some of our recent adventures include...

the CHEESECAKE FACTORY at city creek to celebrate abby's 23rd birthday!

i won 6 tickets to a country concert at the WESTERNER (aka a cowboy bar...good times) so i took the sibs, megan, and my friend darrell. the best part was ordering 2 orders of fries and 6 waters :) oh and playing pool was pretty legit too. ryan fit right in:

lots of random hangouts with annie! this one is from the night she came to a BASEBALL GAME with me to see a friend from my mission play... 

just last friday, annie came to provo to sleep over. we watched SMALLVILLE (our fav) with the shawcrofts while i made cream puffs for a bridal shower the next day. my first try was an epic fail (see top panel). luckily i had ryan, abby, and annie to help me get it right. turns out the words "rolling boil" are imperative. i was pretty proud of try #2 :)

it's also been a blast to see extended family recently! they are all so sweet to us with my parents off in siberia.

CAFE RIO with suzi when she was in town!

we also had a sweet visit with grandma and grandpa gibbons afterwards!

i'm sad i didn't get a picture last night of our party with the glenns at alta ridge! luckily it will be a fast sunday tradition, so i'll get a picture next time :) speaking of the glenns, it was a blast to hang out with them on andrew and haley's wedding day!

  

you know you look rough when...

everyone you see in the widstoe building either asks, "Did you sleep here last night?" or "early morning huh?"

:)

yes...yes it was an early morning. yes...i am in fact wearing slippers. yes my braid was braided yesterday, not today. no...i don't really care at this point.

:)

Liz's weaknesses...

*the soft pillow as my alarm is going off...

*buying really good country songs on itunes...

*symphony bars, chocolate-covered almonds/cinnamon bears...

*Zupas and Cafe Rio with Steph...

*scratch that, Steph in general...she has a look/tone of voice that can get me to do almost anything...

*watching "one more" Smallville episode with the siblings...

*putting off doing grown-up productive things (like folding my laundry or doing the dishes) to spend time with people...

*staying up late doing semi-productive things (or sometimes not productive things) like blogging, writing in my journal, and balancing my checkbook...

looking forward to...

I always blog about things AFTER they happen...but turns out being excited about them BEFOREHAND is the best part :) so here's what's up next in the exciting life of liz:

(1) FINALLY starting the last chunk of my dissertation...photographing the cytoskeleton! excited for cool pictures...perhaps tomorrow will be my maiden experiment :)

(2) STEPH'S BIRTHDAY on friday! i may or may not have an adventure planned for us to do before the dance party that night..

(3) my first big ward activity in my new calling on SATURDAY.

(4) BEAR LAKE with friends in two weeks!

(5) the hobbler HALF MARATHON on july 7th...just signed up today! excited to run with my brother ryan.

(6) earning a little extra cash by HOUSE-SITTING for my professor during the month of july... not to mention bonding with his bird, kiwi, who is basically like a toddler.

(7) my trip to san antonio on the weekend of august 3 to see JENNY and JONATHAN and JAMES and ELLA :) spontaneously bought my ticket today!

(8) three weeks in russia starting the very next weekend! can't wait to be with my dear MOM and DAD again :)

love the anticipation.



A random thought to tag on the end of a random blog post:

Both a recent relief society lesson and a chat with a friend last night have had me thinking recently: what really brings happiness? Often, we think of some future event that will finally make us happy, but happiness can only be found now. What we imagine in the future is always rosier than the reality we currently face, but all phases of life have their ups and downs, their joys and their challenges. It's up to us to BECOME a happy person despite situations or circumstances. We need to actively CREATE happiness now instead of waiting for happiness to just HAPPEN. Anyway, I realized that the key to all of this, for me at least, is PEOPLE. It's all about relationships. My relationship with Christ is my truest source of happiness, but this should be a pattern for relationships with other people as well. I'm always happiest when I'm close to others...not just doing things with them but getting to know who they really are and sharing each others' lives. Focusing outward, on others, has always brought me joy. When I get caught up in selfishness, I'm never content. So here's a shout out to all of the people in my life: you are my happiness :)

ps - I'm so mad...I thought I included pictures of a big group photo of high school people and one of lab friends, but I didn't realize I forgot until the collage was made and I was too lazy to start over. So  just know I love you :)

gill

Meet Liz, the fisherman...er woman...

This may or may not be the story of Liz catching her first fish EVER.

She's not excited or anything.

 Meet Gill.

We intended to keep him alive and set him free,

but Gill swallowed the hook :(

After having the hook ripped out,

(yeah that doesn't sound painful does it?)

Gill's little gills were still struggling to work,

so we thought we'd put him back in the water to see if he could bounce back.

Result?

Meet gutless Gill.

The End.







PS:

How gorgeous is this? Wow, I'm a lucky girl to see scenes like this one.

note to self

Dear Liz,

Next time you go 4 wheeling up hobble creek canyon, don't leave your cell phone in your back pocket. It will not still be there when the ride is over. You may never find it again. You may have to go to T-mobile tomorrow and buy a new phone. You may be sad about his :( Just wanted to warn you,

Love,
Liz

"are you married?"

Well I keep procrastinating blogging about this because it was so funny at the time that I worried I wouldn't be able to do it justice. Oh well, I'll just pretend that my readers will catch the hilarity of this moment despite my lack of talent for writing.

(Sidenote: I'm trying really hard to capitalize "I" and write in full sentences because it bugs Steph when I don't. So Stephanie, this is for YOU!)

Okay, so last week a group of us went over to help a girl in our ward move. I had heard she needed help cleaning so I think I assumed everything was all packed up and we'd just do the deep cleaning. However, I arrived to discover that virtually NO packing had been done yet. Not only that, but let's just say there was a lot of stuff...everywhere...and it all had to be out that night. It was one of those overwhelming moments when I did not think the task ahead was possible. So, being Liz, I turned to Sara and Tara (who were beginning to box up the kitchen) and said, "Do we need more boxes?? I'll go get more boxes!" (hence appearing super helpful while really just wanting the easy job). Sara immediately said, "I'll come with you!" which left Tara..."I guess I'll stay here..." poor Tara.

So off Sara and I went on our grand box-acquiring adventure. First stop: "Dirty Allens"....no luck. Every store near the mall...negative. Never discouraged, we decided Walmart might be our best best...but who wants to drive all the way to Springville if they're not really going to have boxes right? Unfortunately, Sara and I are both in the stone age and don't get internet on our phones. However, Sara is a genius and texted google...BAM we got Walmart's number. We're so good. So Sara calls and talks to a super helpful person who tells us to go to the produce section and they'll have boxes for us! Sweet! Off we went.

Enter: super nice Walmart worker in the produce section...a spanish-speaker.

Our friend took us to the back and loaded up a cart with banana boxes. He even offered us tape! We were trying to decide how many boxes would fit in my little car, and I guess we were discussing like a married couple because the next thing our friend asks us is, "Are you married??" Did this guy think we were married to EACH OTHER?? That was definitely what we both thought when he asked us...but I'm going to assume he just thought Sara was super cute and wanted to know if she was available... Well that's pretty much the story... now that I've typed it all out I still think it was a you-had-to-be-there moment, but man it was funny! So was the trek back to the car with this huge cart loaded up with banana boxes...not to mention the next few hours packing and cleaning up that house... and watching Tara clean out that fridge...