Memorial Day Weekend!

While Anders and his pneumonia were in the lab all last weekend, I spent several days at my parents' house, gardening and celebrating Jessie's birthday.



Jessie and Adam at her birthday dinner.



Galya and David.



Uh, I don't know these people.



Me, dateless and randomly in black and white.



Happy birthday, Jessie. That's awesome that you got your birthday wish - the ability to shoot lasers out of your eyes.



The cat loves going outside. Hooray for beautiful weather.

Ulf Themed Day

Last Tuesday happened to be a true Ulf day. On my way home from school, the record store called and told me that the LP I ordered had come in - Urban Hymns by the Verve. Sweet record that I never actually owned before, but I've listened to it tons, in Ulf's parents' house, in his car, Ulf playing "Lucky Man" on guitar... I got a record player from Amanda last year and I've been buying records since. My rule is that if there's a new album out that I want, I will look for the vinyl first. In fact, most new vinyl comes with a coupon for the songs on MP3 so that works out well for the most time.

In addition, this happened to be the day that I made Ulf's indonesian chicken recipe for the first time in a long time... It turned out great, even though I forgot to add the mango chutney before the oven, and we had to add it on the plate.



The record player I got from Amanda last year!



My growing collection of vinyl...

Last night I finished off 80 hours in the lab over the past 8 days. It would have been fine if I hadn't felt sick for most of the time. Oh well, it's over now and I hope it will be a while before I have to go in again. Tomorrow I'm heading to Toronto, first to hang out with Rick and Meena for a few days, then to attend the American Industrial Hygiene Convention and Expo. I'm bringing a research poster for the student poster session at AIHCE, and I will also work a few sessions, but I hope to have time to see old friends also.

Relaxing May Weekend

I thought I was gonna be stuck in the lab all weekend, but late Friday afternoon my advisor called to tell me that they were not done with the trial experiments, and that we weren't gonna start anything until Tuesday. This meant a sunny weekend hanging out instead!



Amanda down a sunny street.



Reading Kallifatides in Winnemac park.



Amanda's coffee and hi-tops.



Out in the sun.



Making dinner Sunday night.

Mother's Day Weekend 2009

Last Friday night, we saw one of my currently favorite bands, the Kills, at the Metro. Maybe you can't really call them a band since it's just a guy and a girl, rocking out and being awesome. But they are super rock and roll and really talented and a great live show. Highly recommended.



I have a soft spot in my heart for silkscreened concert posters, and since it was such a sweet show, we bought a poster for the collection. It'll probably take us 3 months to frame it.



Anders enjoying weekend breakfast with his usual giant press pot full of coffee.



We had a Mother's Day dinner with my family at a super-Polish restaurant. From left: Aunt Denise, a monkey, my mom, Aunt Lori, and my dad.



And now for some earth shattering news: I bought my MacBook Pro! It is a-maz-ing. This picture was taken right after taking it out of the box. I'm pretty much just staring at the thing because it didn't have any software loaded on it at first and I was just really in shock. Thanks again to mom, dad, Birgitta, and Göran for your generous contributions.

Springtime!

I was having lunch outside today at work with friends when someone spotted a little critter running - literally running, it was sooo fast - across the patio towards the museum. Turns out it was a baby turtle! So tiny! So cute! (One of the biologists put it safely back into the pond.)

Cabin Fever - Part 2

I don't think Anders' photo choices totally did last weekend's cabin getaway justice.



Galya, David, Jessie, Anders, and Joanne on the first night.



I don't know what I was doing. Gino and David look so calm in comparison.



We had such a pretty view of the sunset over the lake!



My sister Jessie and I have the same sense of humor. Sometimes we can't even finish what we're saying because we're laughing so hard yet somehow know what the other was going to finish saying.



Everyone looks really bored here, but it wasn't like that, I swear. We were probably just thinking about the meaning of life. From left to right: Joanne, Gino, Adam, Jessie, me, Galya, and Lee.



After cocktails and a long game of Apples to Apples, you can't always make your way to bed.

Cabin Fever

This past weekend we were invited by Gino (an old friend of Amanda and her siblings) and his wife Joanne to spend the weekend at a cabin in Wisconsin. Gino had won the weekend at a company raffle (or something like that). We drove up with Adam and Jessie, while David and Galya came up late Friday night after work.

The eight of us managed to pack the fridge full of goodies, it seemed as if we were planning on spending a week, and not a weekend, in the cabin... Hardly surprising, there were also some beverages involved.



Good food and beverages were consumed...



Adam showing his dance moves



Lee posing



Enjoying the afternoon sun



Bonfire!



The "cabin" probably sleeps like 20 people!



Dave the Fisherman. No luck though.