Bird + Seed

This Weekend

This was a very low key weekend.  There was a birthday party with tons of food and wine.  More wine than I've had in a long time.  And the food... so good.  I tried two fish dishes, they looked so good.  Just little tastes.  First time I had fish in about 7 years.  Let's say I won't be tempted for another 7 years, but it looked great.

There was sewing.  I made a garment.  An actual wearable garment... more on that later.

Damon crafted too.  Here he is soldering wires onto LED breakout boards.  He later attached them to a heat-sink and voila...

Super bright LED tuned to just the right wavelengths that baby plants love.  We're going to start our seeds soon... and grow lights are hella expensive and use a lot of energy.  This guy uses next to nothing.  See?  We both craft!

Our succulents love the sun.  They grow best in the winter, because this is the only time of year that significant sun comes into our home.  On these sunny days I move all the house plants into the bedroom, in front of the big sliding glass door and let them all soak it in for hours uninterrupted.

I got two new cameras.  This lo-fi gem was taken with my new DigiClover-San.  Maybe I'll remember to take pictures if my camera is insy-weensy and on my key chain.  Also, I got this waterproof reusable digital camera... because next weekend is going to take us to a much warmer, nicer place.  Probably no crafting there, though.  

Getting Things Done

This was a weekend for getting things done.  And thank goodness it was three days long, because otherwise it all would not have fit.  The three days made it leisurely.

First, we put up new kitchen curtains.  I sewed up roman shades a la this simple tutorial.  There were dirty cracked mini blinds there before.  And then some kind of see-through curtains that once covered our French doors... they didn't offer much in the way of privacy.  Especially since you have to walk through the kitchen to get to the bedroom after your shower.  To match, I plan on painting our memo board that hangs between the windows.

While on the subject of curtains, I through these up.  These woodgrain curtains are my first sewing project, back when I lived on my own they hung in my living room.  The mini-blinds are necessary [the closed one looks right into our neighbor's kitchen only 4 feet away], but ugly because they are the first thing you see when you walk into our house.  

We hung sheets to dry and aired out the pillows and blankets.  All the noise and ins and outs [we ate lunch on the porch] drew the attention of neighbor cat #1, Mr. Whiskers.  We had to shut the door.  We had duck roasting and didn't want to encourage him further.

We cleaned, ran errands, had friends over both Saturday and Sunday, spiced up the Sunday morning breakfast routine by trying out a different cafe, and bought seeds & soil to start our garden.  Perhaps most importantly for me, I relaxed fully, slept in and drank a lot of wine.  Why?  Cause on Monday I successfully defended my PhD.  All I have to do is correct a few typos in my thesis, hand it in, and I'm Dr. Connie.  Of all the 'getting things done', that was probably the best.

Hello, 28

Hello, 28.  I guess you and me better get comfy as we're stuck together for a year.  27 was pretty darn good, so I have high expectations for you.  

We ushered in my birthday with a trip to Helmand, a most excellent Afghani restaurant in East Cambridge.  So so good.  

I had the Ashak, which is a leek stuffed ravioli dish with a dal-like preparation on top.  Damon had lamb with challow rice- funny how the food had much in common with Indian food, but still completely differently flavored.

We started with Bowlawni (not pictured) which pastry shells stuffed with seasoned veggies.  Like a Middle Eastern hot pocket!  And ended with Sheerberaing, pictured above, which is a rice pudding heavy on the cardamon.  

Then we enjoyed a relaxing weekend.  I'm still getting used to bringing my camera around with me to facilitate blogging again.  Though I suppose my phone has a better camera...but I use my smart phone primarily for un-smart things.  Like calling my parents once a week.  And that's about it.

All that aside, I have a list of things to do as 28-year old Connie:

- get my PhD [easy... it's next week!  22-27 year old connie did most of that]
- sew more of my own clothes [more on that later]
- re-vamp/re-vibe the blog [off to an ok start]
- save more money
- have friends over more often
- make more food from scratch [more on that later too!]
- work my way out of the week-day rut [ie, don't just come home, make dinner, watch tv, go to bed]
- craft more!
- move all my money out of big corporate banks for good and into my local bank and employee credit union
- line up a new job [eek!  I'll be a post-doc!]

So that's what's up folks.  I better get to it.  28 year old Connie is also a do-er.  Not a wait-er.

 

Sunny Weekend Notes

You are all very aware I'm sure of the strange winter weather.  Strange yes, unwelcome, no.  We took advantage of the sunny 50 degrees to air out some afghans and our pillows.  Plus hang dry som laundry.  Come spring we'll hang a clothes line on our porch, but for now, the curtain rod will have to do.  Other things we did this weekend...

- Went shopping in Harvard Square.  Damon wanted some comfy sweat pants and needed some undershirts.  We went to Gap.  Across the street from Gap is Anthropologie, where I got a shirt to defend my thesis in (thank goodness out of all the ones I took to the dressing room, I preferred the one on sale).  

- We had lunch at Clover.  I occasionally go to their food truck for lunch, but I had never seen their Harvard Square Space.  So cool.  Barbecue seitan and rosemary fries.  Mmmmm.

- Friday was Damon's company's holiday party [much belated]  It was at a go-cart track.  Its good to still be a small company.  Will they still be able to do that next year?

- We went to the winter's farmer's market.  Plenty of parsnips still around!  A few farmers have hot houses, so some greens can still survive the winter.  Although, I bet some hardy kales can grow outside in winters like these.

- We were visited by 3 neighbor cats over the weekend.  So we got our kitty petting action on.  

- We spent a good deal of time working on new kitchen curtains.  Once they are complete, I'll show you.

- And of course, this.

I haven't gotten used to carrying my camera around again.

And we're back

Around the end of November I began working on my thesis in earnest.  On top of that, I had a paper to write for submission to a scholarly journal.  The way it works here, as is much of the US for lab science PhDs, your thesis is the last step- not something you are constantly working on.  True, you spend years on a project, and that body of work, when written, will comprise your thesis... you are not writing it as you go.  You are given permission to start writing by a committee who oversees your progress.  They say when you have completed enough of a project to both display your scientific maturity and have contributed substantionally to your chosen field to begin the thesis writing [and thus PhD earning].  

Yesterday I submitted my thesis to my dissertation committee.  It took me just about a month to write [if I count the days that I worked on it... there were days in there that I worked on my paper, celebrated Christmas, performed experiments, slept in...]  In a few weeks I will have my dissertation defense, which is comprised of a public seminar and discussion, followed by a private, faculty lead defense.  It's an important exercise, but also a formality.  There is no way I will 'fail'.  

So I am back from my blog break.  The thought of spending MORE time at the computer when I was in the midst of writing was painful.  I spent hours in front of the computer... cold, wrapped in blankets and typing with fingerless gloves.  Days on end, the only time I went outside was for a morning run.  When Damon was traveling for work, I didn't talk to anyone the entire day.  True, I slept in till 6 or 7.  I ran errands in the middle of the day.  And I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation on Netflix a lot[Honestly, that show has stood the test of time way better than most shows that came out in the late 80s.  Just don't watch it on a high-res screen]  

Now that the thought of being in front of my computer and typing words doesn't make me sick, I'm glad to be back to blogging.  So, internet.  How are you?

Nothing to do with pumpkins [ok, maybe a little]

This is a dual purpose post.  First: the item having nothing to do with pumpkins.  I got my box checked.  Now, yeah, that sounds gross- but it's PhD talk for 'my dissertation advisory committee thinks I have contributed enough to the body of scientific work and I have progressed to a point that they checked a box on a official form indicating that I may now coalesce everything into a written thesis, defend such thesis [by March] and obtain a PhD.'  Saying 'checking the box' is so much faster.  Although the long winded explanation more closely mirrors the long-winded 5.25 years of work [I am now a G-6] I have done to get to this point.  I am relieved and happy but a little bit dreading everything I have to do.  And I'm a little sad that I have to pretty much stop all my experiments now so that I have time to write.  But this is what we all aim for and strive for and agonize over- so I will continue with this smile on my face.

And in other news, we had our first Halloween [in also that same amount of time] living in a place that we can hand out candy and put pumpkins on our porch.  Mine is the one on the left.  It's supposed to be the mustached pig from Angry Birds.  I think if he were green it would be more obvious.  Damon carved a rocket ship.  Because that is how he rolls.

Bunnies may be my new thing

We went to this lovely place for pumpkin pickin' and some nice out-of-the-city fall air on Saturday.  I chose this pumpkin place mainly because they promised that there would be goats.  I love goats.  Goats are my thing.  It has long been my dad's and my dream to have goats.  Don't ask me why.  But all the goats were sold or hidden away from the public on Saturday.  We had to content ourselves with Bunnies.  

Yes, it was me and the six year olds.  And I want to re-visit the sign in the first picture.  I love that sign.  And it told the truth.  For 1 dollar [handed over to the 13 year old 4H girl who breeds the bunnies] she would hand you over the softest one while letting the bounciest ones hop all over you.  There was a lot of bunnie love.  Damon got in on the bunnie snuggle action too.

Because really, how could you possibly resist?  Bunnies are so tempting... dare I say, as tempting as a pumpkin to a miniature horse?

Or as tempting as piggies to a pile.

Ok, enough of the cute animal photos.  We had a great time and I now want a bunny. 

A Small Moment of Calm

Our Sunday breakfast of scrambled eggs topped with tomatoes, onions & peppers was the most relaxing part of the day.  And we needed it.  See- we're moving on Wednesday and spent all weekend packing, cleaning and making runs over to the new place with oddly shapped things that don't box well.  We're moving just under a mile away, but it still requires [nearly] the same level of preparation as a cross-country move.  Except that we pack our things... and instead of protective butcher paper I favor Tshirts, socks & dishtowels to cushion our kitchen items.  I'm excited to move and can't wait to show it off.  We're going to be real grown up people with our own laundry and an eat in kitchen and everything.  Real grownups.  

 

Hot enough?

I came home today to discover this unique candle configuration.  It's a bit toasty in here you see and the sun was in just the right spot to melt the candle.  And now it's stuck like that.  Or at least, until tomorrow's heat softens it and I'll try to reshape it back.

And this will pretty much be the story of the summer.  Heat and melting.  I am a profuse melter.  And by melting I mean sweating.  And by sweating I mean I am a really gross person in the summer.  I can't help it- it's genetic.  Plus, increased exercise actually speeds up sweat production as you body learns to recognize exertion and what to do to keep you cool.  But it really is mostly genetic.  Damon and I will ride our bikes ~1.5 miles to the Farmer's Market.  He will have a glisten on his brow.  I will have drips down my face and will continue to do so for 10 minutes.  Yeah, I'm a generally gross person.  I feel bad for people when I run past them.  Especially when they are groomed and nice for work and I'm all melty.

And yet I saw so many people in pants today.  How do people walk around- even bike- in this heat in pants?  Just the idea of pants makes me sweat.  But at least I don't burn.  Not like my poor airplants, that were also caught in a sunbeam and got fried.

I'm trying to revive them.  We'll see.  I guess I'd rather melt than burn.  Melting is gross.  Burning is painful- and in the case of my poor plant- permanent.  

Anew...again

Sometimes you just fall into a funk.  This funk encompased blog posting, crafting, and a general desire to do anything.  Really.  I was so meh for about 3 weeks.  But I told myself that I would be out of said funk by the end of the holiday weekend.  And I think I talked myself out of it.  I'm trying to revive my pep and excitement at work.  I'm trying to drum up craft projects and soon I'll refresh this blog.  Which of course would be easier to do if we had a cool and rainy day but communing with the internets is not high on the list when the mercury is high.  But I'll get around to it and all the other things I want to do in between cold showers and frozen-grape munching.