Archive for June, 2006

So..it’s the Friday before the fourth of July long weekend. My boss just happens to be in Denton (an hour away) for a day long committee meeting (which is why I have time to update this blog while I’m at work). So far, three of our six lab members are already planning on sneaking out early. One has already left. Everybody has minor things to run today, and so there’s a lot of lounging around time. Dave and Willie had a long conversation about childhood cartoons (Darkwing Duck, Tiny Toons, Smurfs…etc) I, unfortunately, have a day long experiment and the earliest I can escape is around 4:30-5. Why am I trying so desperately to leave? Andy and I are driving to Kansas tonight! I’m really excited and I haven’t been home for three months. Alas, Kansas is eight hours away. So, I’d really like to get out of work as soon as possible so we can get on the road! Not to mention, I know that everybody is trying to get out of town at the same time and the highways are sure to be a mess. Traffic? A mess in Dallas-Fort Worth? Whoever has heard of such nonsense? (sarcasm intended) ^_^

The week has been going fairly smoothly. Dr. Schetz was very happy with some of the results I produced. When Dr. Schetz is happy, the lab is happy. Kareem just returned from his month long jaunt in Europe. So, we met up with him and Eric for dinner last night at El Paseo. It is a really terrific mexican restaurant with a surprisingly good view. If you’re ever in Keller, be sure to stop by, it’s a very reasonable price for very tasty food.

Then we stopped by the house. The brickwork is almost completed. The interior is completely painted and the trimwork is up. The fireplace is finished too. The closing date has been officially set for July 25th. With the fact that we have to be out of our apartment by August 1st, I’ve been moving boxes from work to the apartment as quickly as my stubbly little legs will allow! Gee willikers, I do hate moving. The idea of having to stuff all our junk into boxes and move them 30 miles away makes me sigh very deeply. Oh well, I’ll deal with all that nonsense when we get back from KS. Best to enjoy our weekend while we can!

Last weekend was one of the first weekends where Andy and I haven’t been running around like anxious mice. Sigh…I had to listen to a 2 hour long presentation on anxiety in knock-out mice and their link to serotonin receptors from a post-doc potentially entering our lab. The guy (I’ve already forgotten his name…oops) was really nice, but when he launched into a lecture about FRET, animal studies, and protein purification, my eyelids started to droop. That’s NOT a good thing when there’s only six people in the room.

Anyhow, last weekend was so nice. We stopped by the house and discovered that we have walls!! No longer does our house look like a wobbly matchbox that the tiniest little sneeze from a hamster could knock down. We’re supposed to have all the brick in place by the end of this week. Looks like everything’s rolling smoothly. With the fact that we’ll be moving in approximately a month, I started packing our less essential items. I packed up all my bulky sweaters and winter wear in one box. Then I started packing Andy’s winter stuff, in not one but TWO completely stuffed boxes. How did this happen? How does Andy have more clothing than me, the shopoholic??

This could only mean one thing, I haven’t been doing my job properly! So, with that in mind, I headed over to Southlake Town Center and bought the prettiest brown flowy skirt and matching Cherry Tomato shirt for my bridal shower (being held by my good friend Ashley over the fourth) AND the coolest trench coat ever! I suppose it’s not really all that cool, it’s just a normal trench coat. However, it was only $20 (originally $90)!! I revel in a good bargain. ^-^ Not to mention, now I am one step closer to being a flasher with a trench coat of my very own. Hm…I suppose I could have said Audrey Hepburn in the downpour scene in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Apples and oranges, right?

Saturday night, Andy surprised me and took me out to Cool River Bar and Grill in Las Colinas for dinner. It’s a terrific restaurant! The food is extremely tasty and the atmosphere is very romantic. Of course, being taught by my parents, I ate as much free bread as my tummy could hold and took the rest of my meal home. Ah…mom would be proud. It made for a tasty lunch today at work though.

To finish of the night, Andy and I watched four hours of Lost. I’m afraid to say, we’re both really hooked on that television show. If you haven’t watched it, you really need to start at the beginning. I guarantee you, in a world where “good” television is sticking a bunch of desperate people/washed up former-stars in a room together and waiting for something “interesting” to happen, Lost is a refreshing change of pace. I was rather dubious when we first started watching it. Jordan, Ben, and Eric were completely addicted to the show, and I found their obsession mildly disturbing. They would spend hours trying to decipher clues and weird happenings from the show. However, now that I’m hooked, I find myself doing the same thing. Please don’t think I’m pathetic, just believe me when I say…it’s an awesome show and give it a try!

On the other hand, I do believe I went temporarily insane when I agreed to meet our trainer (yes, Andy and I decided that we needed a trainer at the gym to get our butts into shape by the wedding) at 8 in the morning on Sunday. So, with much grumbling we dragged our very tired selves to the gym and exercised our wimpy arms and abs. It actually turned out for the best. We were feeling so energized that we agreed to meet Derek (trainer guy) again next Sunday. Of course, we did ask to meet at 9, instead of 8. It seems silly to have to get up earlier to exercise than we get up to go to work. Oh, a recent photo taken at Caitlin’s high school graduation. Sorry, I’ve just been to lazy to put it up until now.

Andy and I bought a couch last night, that’s right…a couch. Now for those of you that already have couches, either passed down or comes with your apartment, may not realize how exciting a step this is! We currently live with Jordan, our good friend. He has graciously supplied us with all the furniture we could possible desire, right down to the fake plants. When we bought our house, we looked around and discovered that we have a desk, a bed, and many computers. Suddenly, the massive amount of money we needed to save to actually live in our house hit us. So, we began to swing back and forth between buying a cheap set of furniture and having everything we would need, or buying something we actually love and build up piece by piece.

In a moment of pure fantasy, Andy and I looked up some couches at Crate and Barrel and fell in love with this…sofa. Yes, it’s pricey, but it’s a huge couch and really, how many people do we know that will visit us all at once? Plus it’s made from the skins of teddy bears! Hm…that sounds rather morbid. With that said, we’re going with the piece by piece furniture purchasing policy. What’s great is that the C&B warehouse is going to hold on to the couch for us until we actually move into the house (for you curious George’s out there…our closing date is set for July 24th). One less thing for Andy to haul around the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Let’s see…wedding plans…invitations are ordered. YAY! Those of you that are moving, have recently moved, or I just plain don’t have your address, please please send your address to me. It makes the mailing of invitations much easier if there is somewhere for it to go. We have purchased all of the wedding party gifts, I had much fun picking them out. Andy…was less thrilled. Cathy (my sister and maid of honor) has picked out her dress. Check it out and agree with me that my sister is going to be a hot babe in that fantastic dress. All the items for the wedding favors have all been ordered and received. We bought a buttload of unscented cream colored candles at IKEA for the reception. So, all in all, things are going fairly smoothly. Now if we can only figure out where to get our marriage license, I do believe the Chao-Trommer wedding is going to happen!
No…there was no reason for the title, except to make Ashley giggle. ^_^