i've never had more non-perishable food in my possession.

After last year's Hurricane Irene ended up being not much more than a missed day of church and a walk to see the swollen Schuylkill River for us, we weren't too worried about Frankenstorm Sandy. Until for no apparent reason I did get worried and two trips to grocery stores later we had a new propane tank, five cases of bottled water, flashlights, a full tank of gas, and so much canned food and boxes of cereal. (and candy corn!) I even got interviewed by a news guy at Lowe's about my hurricane preparations. It was really awkward, and now I know I have no career in television. Thank you Sandy!

On today's preparedness agenda: buy flashlights + batteries (check), bake pumpkin bread (same idea as candy corn: if we must suffer through no electricity, we might as well eat something delicious), clean the bathtub.

Tomorrow's agenda: turn the temperature down on the fridge and freezer to their lowest settings, fill up water bottles and tupperware with water and put in freezer, fill bathtub with water.

Monday's agenda: SURVIVE. 

Any awesome monster storm survival tips you have that you want to share with the Utah girl who can only deal with snow? 

fringe? booties? nearly knee-high?

I'm trying to decide what boots I want to buy on Zappos, and this is basically how it's going:

via

I got a Zappos giftcard last Christmas from my mother-in-law, and I bought a pair of boots with it (after a month of deliberation), but they were the wrong size and I sent them back, and Zappos lost them in their warehouse, and it wasn't until August that I finally contacted them about getting my money back, and they gave me my money back and then upgraded me to free two day shipping. (Zappos and Amazon have the best customer service in the world.) But, now I'm back to square one on boots:

???

I just need them to be cute, waterproof, snowproof, and able to withstand me walking 3 miles a day several times a week in them. It's really not that much to ask. 

(I kind of love those ridiculous yellow Big Bird fringe boots.)

here's a book recommendation. do you have one for me?

Two weeks ago I read the book The Fault in Our Stars. I was supposed to save it for our North Carolina beach trip coming up in a week, but surprise! I couldn't stop myself from reading it. I also couldn't stop myself from sobbing through most it. Two kids with cancer fall in love and The Fault in Our Stars is their story. Is that the worst or what? It's very well written with some beautiful characters and contains this gem of a quote:

"I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once."

This kind of sums it up:

via

I'm very glad I read it. But now I have nothing to read on vacation except scientific papers and goodness knows how much I hate reading papers (much to the detriment of my graduate education, I'm sure). So...got any book recommendations? I've got $45 in Barnes and Noble gift cards, so what's worth buying? Or checking out from the library?

I had to.

former ballroom dancer and current chemistry phd student

I found this site yesterday called This is What a Scientist Looks Like, where any scientist can submit a photo of themselves showing that scientists are real people and not just old white guys dressed in lab coats.
Is this too scandalous to submit?

Knew I should've listened to Sharon and stopped playing with my skirt. 

spooky

Aaron and I are throwing a Halloween party this weekend. And it has been a long time since I've thrown an awesome theme party, so I need some help here! Any great Halloween party ideas? Treats, activities, etc.? (I don't even really know what people do at parties these days...?)

Also, costumes. Not being near my family I am sadly separated from some really great dress ups. What are you being for Halloween? (what costume idea can I steal from you?) 

Any thoughts would be much appreciated! :)

(oh, and update on my last post. James Franco tickets are all sold out. So no James Franco for me. :( Boo.)

yesterday i listened to a glee coldplay cover 4 times. too much!

Lately, Aaron has been staying on campus fairly late, but I'm done with class around noon, so I've been coming home. With no human contact for a few hours, I usually end up listening to this week's Glee songs or Dr. Horrible on youtube and singing along really loudly.

I bet my neighbors think a singing crazy lives in our house. I haven't figured out yet how well you can hear through walls in this place, but I do know we can hear our neighbors perfectly in our bedroom when they're having outside patio parties at 1:00 AM (doesn't happen that often, so we're not too annoyed). But, we never hear our neighbors when they're inside (thank goodness/much less awkward than our Provo apartment?). Maybe they're really quiet when they're indoors and sober? I dunno.

This is to say, does anyone have any music recommendations? I have a $100 iTunes gift card from buying my laptop and nothing I want to spend it on. Suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

(Oh, and random aside, I just noticed that I'm wearing the same striped t-shirt in four of my facebook profile pictures from the last year. I didn't realize I wear it that often/my wearing always coincides with picture-worthy events? I bet everyone thinks I can't afford to buy clothing! This is only mostly true.) 

I sense a theme here...

a dilemma

Also, turtlenecks:

am I the only one who still likes them? I almost bought a black long sleeved one at H&M, but then I thought to myself, "do people even wear turtlenecks anymore?"

So, I ask you, reader, do people even wear turtlenecks anymore?

Cause I have a $5 off coupon, and I need to use it on something.

lately

We have been put right to work in our branch. We sort of love it. (note use of litote.) Already we feel so much more welcome than we ever did in our ward back in Utah. We were in the ward for almost seven months, never got callings, never spoke in church, made like two friends. Probably we could've been more social, but we just weren't feeling it. Here, within two weeks we've been called as the new Gospel Doctrine teachers (ahhh!!!! I never took the second half of New Testament at BYU! And...maybe I have never even read the entire second half of the New Testament!) and we spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday. And, Aaron went teaching with the missionaries last week, and we're going on the branch temple trip this Saturday. It is nice to feel needed.

Temple trip = day trip to Washington, DC so my friends who have spent some time in the glorious capital, what should we do with ourselves? Good places to eat, must-see museums/monuments? What would you do if you had, say 2 PM to 8 PM free in the city?

Also, today I ordered a new book from Amazon (my free Amazon Prime membership ends next week, so I have to use it while I can!). It's this year's Pulitzer Prize winner in nonfiction, and it's called The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. I think medical nonfiction is fascinating (if you haven't read Better or Complications by Atul Gawande, you should!), so I'm quite excited for this book to arrive.

Tips for DC? Books you've been reading lately? You love your ward too?
Tell me about it. :)

sweet

Really not liking the picking the reception food part of wedding planning...
I don't want to do an ice cream bar, brownie bar, cheesecake bar, or pies. I wanted to do a crepe bar, but at $5/person, that's getting a little too pricey for me.

But. I do love cupcakes.
And I am getting married in December.
So I was thinking cupcakes + hot chocolate.

Is that too simple? Too little food? Too much cake?! I don't know.

Thoughts?

P.S. Thanks for the invitations feedback! My lovely friend Natalie designed a BEAUTIFUL invitation for me that I'm getting printed this week! I would post, but...you're probably going to be getting one in the mail anyway. :) Take that overpriced etsy file...

and we stood at God's feet, equal-as we are!

"It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it. Millions are condemned to a stiller doom than mine, and millions are in silent revolt against their lot. Nobody knows how many rebellions besides political rebellions ferment in the masses of life which people earth. Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex."


-Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre


I've been re-reading Jane Eyre lately, and my goodness, there are so many awesome quotes in this thing. Kudos to Miss Bronte for crafting such an awesome heroine. Probably Jane is my literary hero and Marie Curie still reigns as my actually lived hero (along with my mother, I should add). 


I can't even pick out a favorite line from this paragraph because I love how they all fit together. Ahh. So good.
I especially...appreciate? relate to? it now as I'm trying to figure out what to do with my life. It seems almost akin to blasphemy to say I want more than "just" to be a mom, but...I do? I realize that is by far the most important and most fulfilling thing I could ever do with my life, but...I want to...go to grad school? Maybe? Ugh, I don't know. I'll probably start class in 30 days (wow, how are we already in August?) and swear I never want to be put through any more of this academic misery, but secretly I love it. Even when I'm in the Benson Building until far too late because it makes me feel like I'm doing something...important? 


Sometimes, I guess I'm just scared that when I don't have homework to do, experiments to run, or chapters to read I'll feel totally insignificant.
I suppose I should sort out my priorities.


Thoughts?

boom roasted!

Because I have no boyfriend to text, I just have to brag:

I own chem 464 prelab quizzes!!!!

Going from getting anywhere between a 3 and a 7 on 465 quizzes last term to getting 9, 9.5, and tonight, a glorious 10 is the sweetest feeling ever.

Now I'm going to go finish my French reading and do 30 minutes of 391 writing. All while trying very hard not to fall asleep on my couch (my couch! I'm at home, and it's only midnight! This is dangerous, however, as I was at the chem building until 3 AM last night and am extremely tired today. Must. Stay. Awake.)

I hope you all are having lovely weeks. I just have one question: how do you cope with having far more to do than hours in the day/how can I get to bed earlier without changing my major?

down they forgot as up they grew

Sometimes, I really like poems even when I don't have a clue what they mean,
just because the words sound so cool together. This one by e.e. cummings
is a stellar example. (I know it's a tad on the long side, but just read it. Do it.)

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did

Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

I get that there's some sort of life progression going on here, or some sort of passage of time, but I haven't decided yet if it's happy or not.

Today I think it's happy.
Mostly because today I am.

I think I'm going to run a 5K next month. Any tips for a girl who dances too much, but never goes running?(Also, if you're in the area, you should run it with me! March 13th, 9:15 AM)

Hope you all have a good week, living in your pretty how towns. :)

agni kai!

Is there a job where I can just get paid for watching "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and blogging? Because that's pretty much all I feel like doing anymore.

There's not? Alas.
Guess I'll stick to chemistry then.

I have a question to pose to you, readers. I'm planning my 21st birthday extravaganza, and have a couple of ideas for what to do.

Option 1:
Playing laser tag.

Option 2:
Eating chicken tikka masala and naan bread at India Palace.

Option 3:
Seeing "Alice in Wonderland" (celebration of my un-unbirthday! how appropriate!) and maybe having a "tea" party.

Option 4:
Mocktails in test tubes à la classy scientist party.

Option 5:
All/some combination of the above.

What say ye?

ch-ch-changes

Man, I am on such a blogging roll lately.

I've been thinking it might be time for a hair change...

how about...brown?

Like Rory in the 7th season of "Gilmore Girls" brown?
Or maybe I should just cut it and touch up my roots. Thoughts? Hmm...I'm sensing a potential poll coming out of this...