100!

While it might seem a little underachiever-y of me to have taken almost three years to reach this milestone, I have nonetheless reached it. THIS is my 100th post. Here's hoping it takes me less time to reach my 200th post, and that you all are still reading when I do. Thank you for all of your support both voiced and unvoiced. I just feel so blessed with the people in my life.

spring, spring, spring!

Signs of spring are in the air here in Denver!! I am going to ignore the fact that on the news this morning they were talking about snow, mostly because there is no way that I want to deal with anymore of this pesky, winter-y, grossness, especially when it involves me scooting around with a million layers on. In any case, last year I saw spring coming in plants just popping out of the soil. This year I haven't spotted any plants just yet, so spring is showing itself in different ways. And so, I present to you some signs of spring:

Towels hanging dry on the line.

An empty (hopefully soon to be filled) strawberry planter!

And a puppy who has been taking two baths a day; one in the muddy backyard and one in the bathtub.

and a happy anti-valentine's to you too!

As you might already know, I'm not a valentine's day kind of girl. I think it's kind of silly, it annoys me that stores start packing themselves to the gills with cheap little red and pink trinkets starting in December, and I just hate that people feel so much pressure to conform to society....blah blah, this sounds like the rambling of a girl who never had a good experience on 2/14. But that's not true! I always get a very sweet package from my parents, this year featured not only two tasty organic fair-trade chocolate bars (mmm sea salt and almonds in dark chocolate!), but also some pine nuts from their co-op and some honey goat cheese. YUM. I've never had a "bad" valentine's experience that would account for my distaste of the day, it just seems like so much more fun to celebrate an anti-valentines day! By that I mean that I love to make anti cards which have ranged in various degrees of ridiculousness throughout the years, but are so much fun to create! Here is an example of one that Nora made for me back in 2007:

Isn't it great? You probably can't tell, but the skull actually pops out and is barfing hearts.

See what I mean about more fun? I like to make a real girly valentine and then have a giant dinosaur take a bite out of it, or an octopus wrap itself up in it. Some of them are pretty morbidly hilarious, but with quick digging through my desk the above valentine is the only one I could find. I made a few this year that were kind of uninspired in terms of wit, but I wanted to relax after my exams so I scheduled myself a little time to cut and paste some cards for my sister and Nora, as well as a real valentine for my mom and pop.

As you can see, lack of table space is a common occurrence in my life. What can I say, I just like to spread out!

While perhaps not my most inspired cards ever, I did at least excel in delivery and all three arrived the morning of the 14th so I think I get points for timing at the very least!

in which we will fell in love with a little monster

Yep, he's a tricky one. Pretending to be all sweet and lovey and potty trained....not so much folks, not so much. When we brought Oliver home he was seriously cuddly and sweet and tuckered out. From the first time I brought him outside to do his business he knew exactly what was expected of him, squatting down like a pro and then trotting back inside to get his treat. Hooray day one he is potty trained! Hooray it wasn't a fluke, he's potty trained still on days two and three! What a smart puppy, eh? Well, as it turns out he is smarter than I had originally thought. Now when we take him out he cocks his head and stares uncomprehendingly at me while I repeat "GO POTTY" over and over. After letting me get really annoyed he will scamper past me, under the railing, under the scooter, around the chairs, to the corner, along the fence passing under every single bush or tree until he is in the farthest corner possible from where I wanted him to go and squats down between the privacy of two trees. Does he ever want to scamper back from the farthest corner at three in the morning? Of course not! By the time he has followed his specific route he is freezing and hops around trying to balance on three legs to get one of them away from the snow until he gets really sad and just sits up on his hind legs with his nose covered in snow and makes his eyes all big and wimper-y until I go get him and bring him back inside. Which is not to say that he only goes outside and here I am complaining about walking across the yard...he has in fact become sneaky pup who when I won't let him run his little track race outback will, after staring at me uncomprehendingly, come back inside with me and promptly pee on the rug. What a sweetheart, eh? His other newest trick is to escape from the backyard because he is small enough to just walk through the fence with minimal squirming. Yesterday I was running with him in the backyard and when I looked back he was in the neighbors yard looking confused as to how he got there! That said, we love him a lot. For how much he frustrates us, he definitely makes up for it in a million other ways. I figure he will only be little for a very short while, so I have to appreciate the things I love about him when he's small and accept the puppy behaviors that he has too. Who's idea was it again to adopt a puppy during one of my hardest semesters? Pictures for your enjoyment:

I think Oliver's love for Yin (read terrorizing her constantly) is much greater than her love for Oliver.. but to her credit she is pretty patient with the little bugger. Do you know how he gets down from the couch? Lately he has been standing on the edge psyching himself up and when Yin walks by he launches himself onto her and then slides off her back to the ground. It's seriously hilarious...

Trying to get in some sleep before going to work.

Doesn't he look like he wouldn't cause a bit of trouble?

His favorite part of the snow? Licking it..

Annnnnd, one of my biggest dog dreams will come true I think because he seems to have an affinity for playing fetch already! Monster or not, I think we'll keep him.

let's talk about stress

Alternate title: Organic chemistry is for the birds..

I am stressed. STRESSED. Pull your hair out (if I had any), do nothing but study, cry and study kind of stressed. Ugh, how much do I not want to be doing prerequisites anymore? I'm not sure if my increased stress is just something that always happens to me and is a pattern that those closest to me will just recognize as something that I do relatively often throughout the semester, if it's the content of my horrid organic chemistry class that I just don't understand, if night shifts are finally getting to me, or if it is some crazy combination of all of the above. Whatever the cause, I have been trying to seek ways to reduce my stress so that I can actually function like a relatively normal person. These steps have included trying to remember to exercise (isn't that always the first thing to go when you get really busy?), organizing an organic chem study group that has actually been quite helpful, watching youtube videos of a organic chem professors lectures at UC Irvine who is really great at explaining things, getting library books on organic chemistry, taking baths with notecards on hand, and breathing, or at least trying to remember to sometimes breathe. Unfortunately none of these seem to be helping. They are helping me learn my chemistry, to some extent, but they aren't having much of an affect on my stress levels. Perhaps this is because they all involve continuing to study rather than things to do while taking a break from studying. I told you I'm going crazy! All I can talk and think about is studying! I even dream about it, which incidentally stresses me out more because I can't be sure if I am dreaming about the correct things or if I am somehow mixing up equations and functional groups and making things worse..which makes me have to check my notes first thing in the morning. Don't worry, I have in fact thought of every possible way to include more stress in my life. PHEW people, PHEW. I just thought I would get that out there. Because now I have to go back to....yep, well I'm not even going to say the word again. But you know what I am going to go do, and tonight after my back-to-back o chem and microbiology exams I am going out for a drink with my new friend who is also a full-time-night-shift-hospital-CNA-stressed-out-studying-student-fool just like me.

We no longer have table space because it has been turned over to my ever growing pile of school crapola. See the youtube lecturer on my computer? It's kind of saving my sanity. Can you tell?

Zooming in for a close up on all the things I am using to get through this class. I borrowed five books from the library to consult, and when I have to bring my materials with me I need a wheelbarrow to get it all there without breaking my back.