i got an iphone. you've been warned.

Aaron and I finally caved and got our own phone plan and also got smart phones. Aaron had been using a flip phone, so...it's a big improvement. I've been taking shameless self portraits with mine, and also random lab photos because I can. I have a phone with a camera more than 1 megapixel now!

safety glasses- this season's must have accessory.

Isn't our lab pretty? We have windows! Other groups aren't so lucky.

pretty philly

When Becky was visiting, we hit up a lot of historical sites. One of the more random was Elfreth's Alley. It's the oldest continuously inhabited street in the US or something like that. Basically, it's just a really cute pedestrian street (where people still live).

A lot of Old City looks like this. It's really quite beautiful to walk around. When you visit, you shall see. :)

(thank you for the picnik suggestion! doesn't the spacing look so much better on this collage?)

bff

you know what? he is the best.

that is all.

remember that one time we got married in narnia?

yeah, that was pretty great.

today's color palette: ripe lemon and plum, with a hint of metallic

Cr(acac)3

Mn(acac)3

(C5H5)2Fe2(CO)4

Isn't that plum purple on the second photo beautiful? And the shine on that third photo! I'm telling you, I spend 6 hours a week in Chem 518 making glitter.

At the end of the semester I'm going to line up all of my little vials of compounds I've made in the order of the rainbow and take a picture and it will be so beautiful I won't be able to stop typing really long sentences with way too many clauses and too few commas.

In case you're curious, that little football shaped thing in the second and third photo is a magnetic stir..egg..I guess you could call it. We put it in the beaker with all of your starting materials on top of a magnetic stir plate so that your reaction solution gets stirred! Pretty cool.

été invicible

I think now is a pretty good time for a trip to the Mediterranean, yeah?

Boo on below 10 degree weather.

Photos from last summer's vacation within a vacation to the picturesque coastal town of Collioure while living in Toulouse. Vive la France!

one thing's for sure, our kids are going to have kick butt science fair projects

I think if I were in charge of marketing science to little kids, particularly little girls, all I'd say is, "Be a chemist, and you can make glitter and pretty colored things!!"

Behold the evidence:

trans-dichlorobis(ethylenediamine)cobalt(III) chloride

(synthesized today in lab! it was in this really pretty dark, dark turquoise liquid, absolutely gorgeous) 

Buckminsterfullerene (60 carbon atoms bonded together in the shape of a soccer ball)

(made last week)

Buckminsterfullerene with flash!

Gold flakes about to be dissolved by aqua regia

 Dissolved gold in aqua regia!

(Isn't that cool? Did you ever think about gold dissolving?)

I think that the colors just might be my favorite thing about chemistry. So beautiful.

T-5 days

I can't help myself. We got the CD last night with over 300 photos on it...and I just have to share.

We lalalalove Nickell.

And my little sister Becky for being my hair and makeup stylist. :)

vintage chemistry

While I'm going all photo posting crazy, I just have to share this:

Oh, my dad was such a rockstar chemist post doc at Harvard.

 I think this photo just says so much.

hehe

day 3: a picture of you and your friends

I have a lot of people I consider to be my friends, so you get to see a lot of photos!

My sophomore-present roomies/neighbors (photo from my birthday outing to Spark last March, so fun!)

My little sister. (photo from our Bateau Mouche ride on the Seine in Paris)

Freshman year roomies = lifelong friends (photo from an outing to Los Hermanos)

My high school besties, most of them at least (photo from our Christmas party a couple years ago)

And Aaron, my fiance, love of my life, and best friend.

dandelions

Aaron and I got our engagement pics back today, all 200+ images. And I love them! So much fun! Many thanks to Nickell for taking them!

(Oh and new hair dye job-check it, my bottom layer's now waaayyy dark in trying to fix the bad box dye job Bec and I did the night before we were originally supposed to take photos. Don't try that at home kids.)

framboises

This little outing led to this...

...delightful little lunch.

Mmmm open air markets are just maybe my favorite thing about this place.

mortal kombat...and by mortal kombat I mean arguing your way into a dollar off your laser tag game

Oh my gosh, I am so lucky to have a live-in photographer to document my life. Here are some photos Natalie took from my laser double birthday bash last night. (Guess who got 2nd place at laser tag? BAM.)

Can I just say that I am a huge believer in extravagant birthdays? I love throwing parties, I love decorating for them, I love presents, I love going out to eat, etc. etc. When I'm a mom, my kids are going to have the most awesome birthdays ever. Just throwing that out there as one of my qualifications as a future wife.*

Anyway...hope you all are having great weekends!

*I feel like this would make for a highly entertaining post. My other qualifications include: curry making and knowing how to use a torque wrench. How these might come in handy, I'm not sure, but I would love to see the situation that would require them both.

They say it's your birthday...

Soo....as of March 3rd, I am officially 21! (and officially without a valid driver's license...uh oh.)

Many thanks for all of the texts, calls, facebook messages, etc. You guys are great!
My roommate Natalie, photographer extraordinaire, took a bunch of photos from our roommate trip to Spark that fully captured the essence of what a birthday is supposed to be about:

Laura made me a chocolate cake from scratch! It won the best-chocolate-cake-I've-ever-had-hands-down award.

Tastes as good as it looks...mmm....

I also went out to lunch at India Palace (chicken tikka masala, heavenly) with my mom and Becky. From my family I received all three seasons of "Avatar: the Last Airbender". You know what this means, right? Weekly marathons. I think yes.
Perhaps the best present though, was getting that dang thermometer fixed! That's what working in the lab on your birthday does for you! :D

Oh, and, I have a little announcement.
That I've known for a while, but was so scared someone was going to email me and say, "Just kidding, we really don't want you," but this week was the first prep class and no one's changed their mind yet, so:

I'm doing an internship in France this summer!!!!! AHHH!!! I get to spend May 28th through the end of August in Europe!!!! AHHHH!!!! So excited!

Anyway. There's the update on life.
You should all come play lasertag with me tonight at 8:00, for a triple celebration of my birthday, my fixing skills, and my future summer in France. :)

...and I feel fine

So yesterday I dyed my hair blonde again and had a conservative trim with some new side bangs. They were just the right length to drive me insane, so on a whim inspired by the change of a new year and new decade...well...I told Becky to give me bangs.

Tada!
I am happier with this look than my expression in the picture makes me seem.

I spent my New Year's Eve in high waist jeans, rocking half boots, and 3D glasses from "Avatar" (which, ps is visually stunning, awesome movie) that I punched the lenses out of and then proceeded to paint with sparkly nail polish.
And then I partied hard with ballroom and high school friends. What could be better than a game of murder in the dark/dancing to "It's the End of the World As We Know It" to ring in 2010?

(500) weeks of

It seems like elementary school just can't stop repeating itself.

Or junior high.

Or high school.

It seems...it is written.

It was really fun to go through old photos! We were so little! Dearest Kim, you are in every one. Probably because you are my oldest friend.

housewarming

My apartment's been getting some fixing up lately...mostly due to Janessa and Noelle's presence. Yay for awesome roomies! :)

Our couch is no longer hideous plaid! It's now bermuda blue! Note the adorable IKEA pillow.


No more ugly blue, awkwardly shaped chairs! Now they're sleek black!


The beyond amazing kitchen shelving unit that I want to steal when I change apartments (just kidding, I'll buy my own). Aren't the hooks hanging our pots just adorable?


Meet Bridget (as suggested by Josh), my latest experiment in gardening (ha). Photography credit also goes to Josh.


Many thanks to Jill and Garrett for new mixing bowls! I swear I've used them everyday for the past week. They are fabulously colored AND they have lids. Seriously, what more could you want?

I'm hoping to pick up a coat rack, three shelf bookcase, and a giant bulletin board in the next little while. I love new house related things. :)