one more miracle

Just for the record, this is what has stolen me away for the past month:



Those are my beautiful Mainz boys, Lewis and André, who are talented and tiny and perfect and the hugest BFFs. *sighs and chinhands* (Lewis is the one that's allergic to clothes <333) Sadly they're BOTH leaving my team next year, and they're not even going to the same place, so that's a little bit heartbreaking. But I love them, and I love them for bringing such a perfect year to my team, and I will continue to love them wherever their paths may take them.

I just wanted to share their cute little bromance with you. You're welcome. :D

Life is mildly crazy right now. I went from being only in charge of my own self to being responsible for training two new students in the lab! *flails hands* The high schooler is doing great - I've had her a couple weeks and she's really caught on fast, she's a sharp cookie. She also just graduated so technically not a high schooler, but still never worked in a lab! I'm very impressed. The other one is weirdly more tough; even though he's an MD-PhD student who knows his shit, I'm teaching him something he's never done and I've only done two YEARS ago, so we're kind of the blind leading the blind, oops. Also my boss isn't around right now and it's tough to figure out exactly what he wants when he's not, you know, here. So that's an adventure. Luckily he's a good humored dude with a sharp tongue and we spend half our time cracking up, so I think we'll at least have fun while we're mucking about.

Josh came over last night (Sunday) even though he had had a long tiring weekend with his family - I told him he didn't have to and he told me not to be silly. :3 We just cuddled and watched Serenity (his first time!!!) and it was amazing. \o/ That movie still makes me gasp and cry, it is my favorite in the whole wide 'verse. He really enjoyed it too, I am happy to report. :D Even though I sent him home at a reasonable hour I didn't get much sleep and was basically a zombie today, oops, and since he's a princess who needs 8 hours of beauty sleep he probably was worse off. But you know what? 100% worth it. And I may or may not be seeing him again tomorrow. (Can't stay away, omg.)

As for the OTHER man in my life - my daddy, hee - we just made plans to go out for a daddy-daughter dinner on Thursday! \o/ I'm treating him for Father's Day of course, and since it's Restaurant Week I get to REALLY treat him, yay. I don't know if I ever mentioned it here but my dad moved here last fall to live with his brother (lost job, lost house... yet he's happier than he's been in a long time) and it's amazing to have him around all the time. I love my daddy ever so!

Err that's it! Just trying to get back into this regular posting nonsense. And also trying to get back into the rhythm of flist reading! It feels really good to dip my toes back into your lives again! I'm really looking forward to rejoining this community, as much as I can. ♥

Hi flist! Hi!

I am so ridiculously behind on LJ, because it has been one nonstop weekend! My dad and my sis were here the whole time so I've been doing this and that with them, and basically had no time to keep up with the internets. In the short bits I've caught, I've seen 1) SPN fangirls being crazy, 2) Misha being a darling dork who slashes J2 FOR us, and 3) Gerard being really beautiful in a totally random JPop video. What else have I missed?

Quick recap! On Saturday morning we had the Intercollegiate Student Chemists Conference here at my college, and I gave a presentation in the biochemistry division. It was actually sort of a competition, and I ended up winning first place in my division! Against only 6 other people, but still, that was pretty awesome. :) Then I had a looong dress rehearsal for choir. After that, it was in the 70s and sunny (!) so me and my dad and sis wanted to enjoy the sun. We spotted a baseball game going on near my school, and found that it was my college's baseball and softball teams playing games right next to each other! So we hung out for a few hours in the sun and it was really lovely. The girls were losing 2-0, but then they had an amazing inning in which they scored 6 runs and my friend Jess hit a home run! It was so great and a lovely way to spend the afternoon. Then we went to dinner at a local creperie and UNF UNF it was soooooo delicious. Peach mango strawberry smoothie and chicken caesar crepe and brown sugar/butter crepe, om nom nommm.

Then today, I sang in my choir's big semester performance, and it was kind of a big deal: ( The choir invasion! )

It was a really amazing experience, and a great note to finish my time with the choir. We have *the* most incredible director - he seems to live and breathe music, and the way he coaxes it out of us is so beautiful. And he's just a really sweet, caring guy. It's been a blast singing with him for the past four years. It's definitely something I'm going to miss about college!

While I'm sharing photos, I thought I'd post some really gorgeous ones I've had sitting about for a while. These are mostly from my flight back from San Francisco. It was a beautiful, sunny, clear day, so I had the most beautiful views of the Rockies and a lot of lush grassland. There are also a few pictures from around campus on the beautiful days we've had recently. I hope you like them!

( The beauty of spring )

Well that's it for now! I should do some laundry and try to get caught up on LJ. Mostly I want to read SPN fic (I know right?!) and/or watch old SPN eps and/or old FNL. I'm on a nostalgia kick.

Which! Speaking of! Me and my sister watched Hunted, Playthings, and Nightshifter this weekend. ♥____♥ Season two, you are forever first in my heart!! "We're not workin for the mandroid!!" <333333

Wow, I am just bowled over by the birthday wishes! Thanks everyone!!

I treated myself to a bottle of Bushmills Irish whiskey (rather anticlimactic - for one thing, I've bought alcohol approximately a bazillion times, and for another SHE DIDN'T CARD ME) and I'm now drinking it on the rocks. Oh GOD it's good. All smooth and rich with just a bit of burn and mmmmmmmmmmm. Yeah, I'm a whiskey girl.

I wanted a six pack of Corona, but apparently in PA liquor stores can only sell wine and spirits? Beer is sold elsewhere! I was most miffed. I'm going to have to hunt down a good beer store because homg I miss beer like CRAZY. There was Guinness on tap at the Empires show but I couldn't have any ;_;

My current state of intoxication (which is pleasantly fuzzy and will only degenerate) means that I won't finish teh Empires post tonight. Sorry! In short - LOVE. But you will get long tomorrow. I promise.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm Bushmills.

Oh yeah and I talked to my daddy for like an HOUR. Do you know how much I love my Daddy? THIIIIIIS MUCH. I asked him if he still had a copy of the song he wrote for me when I was born, and he sang me some of the melody! "She's a miiiiracle girl!" UGH DADDY. He's my favorite, you guys.

I just watched the S1 episode of Battlestar Galactica, Flesh and Blood, where Kara interrogates Leoben. Starbuck + Callum Keith Rennie = HOMG. I was vibrating. He's so fucking GOOD and so fucking hot and nnrrrgh. And now I'm going to watch more Due South and he's going to be a cynical sarcastic ridiculous cop and i'm gonna laugh and laugh.

TOM CONRAD. The end. Yes I took that picture.

ETA: OH YEAH. I just found out that We The Kings is playing in my town NEXT WEDNESDAY! :O I went to the website for my local venue and THERE THEY WERE! $10 for a walking-distance show! Sweeeeet. I'm now giving their album a listen and they're funnn! YAY MUSICS.

Monday mornings aren't supposed to be unexpectedly nice, but I'm not going to complain! This morning, I was sitting at my computer in the lab, back to the door, and suddenly someone's hand landed on my head and kind of rubbed my hair a little bit. I started, assumed it was my friend Ryan from downstairs, turned to say hi and did a hilarious double take, because it was DAVE!! Dave is my lab coworker from last summer, and it turns out he was just passing through for the afternoon and came into the lab to do some researching through our online resources. It was such a wonderful surprise!! He graduated so he's not around anymore, and I MISS him something fierce. Some of you might remember that I had a massive crush on him last year, and while I'm over it, he still makes me super happy just by being around. He teases me a lot and we're just super comfortable together. It was so lovely to just chat with him for a couple hours (I totally didn't do any work in that time.... oops!). I asked him about his new job as a lab tech at Dupont, which he got straight out of college, and he told me that he's making $56,000 a year, PLUS benefits. Holy crap!! On top of that, he was OVERqualified for the job. This is so encouraging for me, since I'm planning on getting a similar job right out of college to save up for grad school.

So that was a nice start to my week! \o/

Let's see, what else is goin down. I talked to my daddy for an hour on the phone today. I asked him if my tattoo could definitely be my bday present, and he said yes. I then went on to explain my tattoo philosophy to him (which is, ahem, stolen from Frank Iero, because it is that awesome - in short, it's that each tattoo represents who you were at some stage in your life, and if you give them enough consideration that they ARE true to who you are in that moment in time, you can never get tired of them because you don't (shouldn't) get tired of yourself). He seemed reassured and impressed that I give the whole thing so much thought. I think it still weirds him out a little that I'm getting tattoos, and talking about them like this is just the start. He said that he was actually surprised I was brave enough for the pain, and I laughed and said that Mom said that too. And he said that that's probably because I was such a WUSS when I was little, sobbing over the tiniest of boo boos, so he and my Mom both associate that with me still. Even though it's not really true at all anymore. I thought that was really sweet and cute. Somehow we got on the topic of how my daddy raised me and I got to tell him how much I love and appreciate him and his approach to my upbringing, which was very much to let me do what I wanted to do, while just giving me guidance by example in terms of ideals and morals. I am very grateful for my parents in that respect especially - I ALWAYS felt free to be exactly who I wanted to be.

/sappy!

Talking about The Incredible Hulk made me want to see it agaaaaain. Like, ASAP. Ungh so good. I'll just have to make do with Fight Club... my life, so hard!

Hay you guys, fangirls are awesome (or embarrassing? no, mostly awesome) and MADE DAVID HEWLETT SAY "I LOVE YOU TOO JOHN SHEPPARD." NO REALLY. Eeeeeeeeeee!


Ugh ILHIM.

This weekend - WARPED! The weekend after - DC with all of my American girls from Dublin!!! ALL OF THEM! Emmy (Cary's sister) accidentally let slip that EMILY IS COMING TOO! So it's a complete reunion and I am SO RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED I CAN'T EVEN. I knew that this would be perfect timing, because as predicted I am so over this America thing and sinking into a funk of need-Dublin-NOW, so seeing them will really help to stop that downward spiral. They UNDERSTAND my PAIN.

Well, this was a random post! I'm going to go be productive now.

XOXO

Can we talk about how fucking adorable those Darlings at the Disco are? Because seriously. Zack Hall, please be my minder. ILU. And your infinite patience. Can we also talk about how watching Spencer Smith flail about on the floor trying to pretend he was swimming was the hottest thing ever, UNTIL five seconds later, when Brendon Urie did a standing backflip to Elton John? YEAH I DONT KNOW EITHER. <333333333 However, the Ladder vs. Windshield one is my FAVORITE, because, well, 1) ZACK. ILU. Solving the mystery! "We can tell CSI NOT to come. Unless they want to." 2) Zack hugging all of Hush Sound hello, UGH MY HEART! Darren is so miniscule next to him! And Greta is just engulfed! Daaaaarlings! 3) BRENDON URIE hugging all of the Hushies hello!!! The way he ruffles Chris's hair is THE MOST PRECIOUSEST THING TO EVER HAPPEN, OKAY. <3333333333333333 Heeeeee! And 4) GRETA. "We've just been shot at!" and Brendon, "FOR REAL??" Ahahahaha. Lovelovelovelove. The shenanigans those children must be getting up to on this tour! Moar backstage footage plz!

My sister got to go to the HCT show last night in Connecticut with my dad. She had SUCH a great time. It sounds like it was an awesome show. And my dad really enjoyed it! He said they're fantastic performers with a great sound, and he loves the three of our boys harmonizing, and yay. They were in the pit (i could have sworn there were no seating tickets on sale when I got the presale tickets! Is that because GA is considered better? I'm sure my dad would have appreciated sitting down >.<) and had a great view. I wish I could have been there with them! Ah well, it will happen at some point, me and my sis will totally become concert buddies (love you, Mere! <3) when Panic returns to the states and MCR stops rolling in their wedded bliss :P

Next let's talk about how EXCITED I am for the new X-Files movie. LKSDFLSDKJF. It's going to be amaaaaaazing, you guys. Mulder and Scully are 100% the original OTP of my heart, and I cannot express the glee it gives me to have new canon coming. YAY YAY YAY. The viral promo thingies are FANTASTIC (see them over at xfiles) but I can't seem to get the trailer to work for me! WANTS *grabbyhands*

I called my mommy to wish her Happy Mother's Day tonight. She was most pleased by the edible flower arrangement (read: shaped fruit, some of it chocolate covered, nom nom nom) that I sent over, so yay. We had a nice long chat, it's nice to have grown out of the at-war-with-mom teenage phase! (Unlike my rooommate, who cannot talk to her mom for 5 seconds without getting in a fight >.<) At the end she handed the phone to my brother and I ended up talking to him for half an hour. I forget how fond I am of him sometimes! He's 17 and clearly can be quite the pain in the ass, but as I've taken the stick out of my ass, and he's matured a bit, we're much more able to have real conversations. He's so funny and smart, when he's not an asshole we get along great. My mom told me the story about how he completely out of the blue won the position of vice president in his high school's student council, haha! He tied for second in the first round of voting, then they had to write speeches, and his speech was so awesome that he won! I'm not super surprised, because he's extremely eloquent, charismatic, and a great writer, but still, how cool. Now... he just has to pass junior year. Which is actually quite up in the air :-/ His teachers RAVE about how brilliant he is, how he leads class discussions and has the brightest mind, but... he doesn't do his work. Oh Pete. He's so frustrating, but such a great kid. I'm sure he'll come out on top eventually.

This is still on time in the states, so HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY to all the lovely moms on my flist! Off the top of my head, keepaofthecheez, deirdre_c, adellyna, and I'm probably forgetting someone or not aware, but um. Yes! You are all lovely ladies and I admire you so much for what you do! I hope you all had fantastic days :)

That's all for now. The hardcore week of studying has begun, so while I'm probably getting my laptop back in the next couple days, I'm still going to be relatively MIA. Love you all! <3