What I'm definitely not missing...

**Can you see that brave squirrel in the picture? What is he thinking?!**

I got this picture from my friend back in NYC. They're going through a blizzard right now. Ick!!!!

I'd better soak up the warm weather as much as I can before I head back (as well as In N Out burgers!) :)

En route

Leaving the cold snow for sunny California (or rainy...so I hear)!

In N Out, Disneyland, Fatty bulldog, beaches and fun times ahead! Plus I get to read MockingJay on the flight...so excited!!!

And I must say, JetBlue is treating me nicely. Free Wifi? Yes please!

If you're in California for the next week, let me know so we can get together! :)

[**I still have 9 more assignments to complete before the 31st, but I'm not going to let that drag me down!**]

OCD moment

First of all, I have to mention that FINALS ARE OVER!

Man, this semester was nuts. I always knew that grad school would be hard, but this took stress/hard work to a new level. It makes my undergrad stress levels look like a joke. I may have finished my first semester of grad school, but I definitely sacrificed my sanity to get through it. I had SO MUCH anxiety for my biochem exam this week. There was so much information and I was studying so hard, that I completely lost my mind! I honestly thought this final would destroy me. I would take 3 hour intervals of sleep throughout nights, work in the lab full time, and this continued on for a while. The exam was 14 pages long and totally fried my brain, but I MADE IT! I really feel like I accomplished something by getting through these last few months, and I am so happy to finally be able to relax for a bit and welcome the holiday season and Christmas break!

...but you would think after such a hard week that I would just relax and sleep, right? Ok, well I had a total OCD moment. As soon as I got home from my last final, I thought to myself, "WOW, now I have all of this time to get things done!" And I'm not kidding when I say I went crazy and got a ton of things done that I hadn't been able to do the last few weeks. Sleep deprived and with a brain turned to mush, I did the following in the same day I finished my last final:

-Did the laundry

-Cleaned the house (huge job. I destroyed the house during finals week. Brain=mess, so house=mess).

-Went grocery shopping

-Went Christmas shopping

-Wrapped presents

-Finished lab presentation

-Exercised

Um, crazy enough?

Ok, it's allll out of my system now. hahahaha! Now I have a new list of what I want to do for the next week:

-Read the last book of the Hunger Games. Oh man, I've been dying to read this!

-Watch Tron on the biggest IMAX screen in NYC

-Retail therapy at Anthropologie

-Watch the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills/Atlanta 'till my brain turns to mush

-Eat a billion cannolis

-Disneyland with the hubs

-Yoga yoga yoga!

Oh and of course this is all dependent upon whether I'm awake or not because I'm going to get some serious SLEEEEEP!

Now I'm heading to California for Christmas and will be back in NYC just in time for New Years. Yay!

Oh and today was a great day as well, because Seth and I had the BEST homemade apple cider ever. There were even little apple chunks in it. It warmed my body in this freezing weather, as well as my soul. Seriously.

G'night!

A White Christmas

Ok, I know I should be studying, since I have one more hulk of a final that sits between me and my christmas vacation, but I have to post about the snow! Besides, I could use a break from studying the horrible and painful subject of bioinformatics.

So I'm going to turn up the Christmas music, light the tree, and eat some chocolate covered pretzels while I blog!

I woke up this morning only to find a light blanket of snow outside!

It actually started to snow last night as I was making my way home from the library. It was gorgeous! I probably would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't so COOOOLLLLDDD (still adjusting to cold weather). I'm still in unbelief on how cold it is over here. When I go outside my lungs contract and its like I can't breathe--like I jumped into cold water or something. And then my face feels likes its going to fall right off of me. I know I sound a little dramatic, but I was in a place with year round 80 degree weather just a few months ago (which I so dearly miss)! I just keep hoping that I'll adjust to it. I'll adjust eventually...right? Right??!?!

Anyway, central park is just gorgeous with snow on the ground. I passed it on the way to school today, but I didn't want to take my hands out of my pockets to take a picture. Maybe this weekend after finals I'll head on over there. I can't wait to see it after it snows a lot! Its supposed to snow tomorrow and this weekend.

So I bet you're wondering how I handle finals stress. Well even if you didn't, I'm going to sum it up with one picture:

These beautiful babies are keeping me alive! Got finals stress? Get a bag of chocolate covered pretzels!!!!! (Or multiple bags. May also be substituted with Cadbury eggs).

One more final and one lab presentation of semester's work left!

Now back to bioinformatics.

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!

Our Charlie Brown tree is finally decorated and ready to go!

[Courtesy of Goodwill decorations for only $6!]

Now I feel like the holidays are finally here! :)

PS: Only one more week of horror before this semester is over!

One more week!

Only one more week until I can say that I've survived the first semester of graduate school!

WHOOOOHOOO!!

..that is, if I survive this next week. hehe.

I think I'm going to eat some cadbury eggs to compensate for my stress. :)

Snow snow snow!

It's SNOWING!

Well actually everyone keeps calling the snow "flurries" so I guess the snow really hasn't hit us yet.

But it is COLD! And I feel like my face is going to crack and fall off! I am constantly holding my hands on my face as I walk down the wind tunnel-streets because I can't handle it. Are there such things as face warmers?

Today was the last day of an intern in our lab. At lunch, he went around the table and said something that he noticed over the course of his internship about everyone, like "Mary can smell you from a mile away," and "Mike always plays rave music." For me he said, "Lacey is always cold and is always wearing at least 5 layers." So true.

I've lost all fashion sense, or let alone the will to get ready in the morning. For me getting ready is piling as much clothes on myself as possible. It's just as cold inside MSSM classrooms/lab as it is outside. No point in doing my hair because the snow/rain/wind will get to it eventually. And who cares about makeup, I'm just in the lab all day anyway. Don't I just sound lovely? Don't worry I put on makeup when seth is around so he doesn't run away screaming. hehe.

Only two more weeks/two finals/1 lab presentation/1 Journal club presentation/book report (?) away from a break.

[I miss Hawai'i]

ITS FRIDAY!

...thank goodness!

This week was full of setbacks. I'm so happy its Friday. Lots of studying, homework, tests, lab work, and cell culture contamination!! Someone contaminated my cell cultures and I have to start over! And finals are coming up. I'm in total denial about the studying load that awaits me.

And I have an injured knee. How did that happen, you ask? WELL... I was getting off the train and coming up the stairs, when some GIANT lady comes barreling down the stairway (which is small) trying to make the train, and totally body slams me sideways. I was carrying a lot of stuff, so I didn't have a chance to move to the side before she hit me, and the top of my body got pushed against the wall while my left leg got twisted the other way..does that even make sense?! ha! Anyway, my knee really hurts now. Stupid lady. By the way she didn't make the train. Injured knee for nothing!

Enough of that. I did do something fun this week. Two things, actually.

First of all I went to zumba class (not the indian folk dancing class)! It was taught by a latino GUY and it was so much fun! First of all it was hard core. The instructor could shake it like girls in rap videos. It kinda freaked me out a bit. And there was this old man next to me wearing an outfit that resembled a wrestler's singlet that was totally breaking it down to the reggaeton music and I just could not stop laughing. He was awesome. The class was like a huge dance party and it was so much fun! Its totally what I needed to lighten my mood (this was before the giant lady/knee incident)!

Annnnddd, we went to go see the Rockefeller Christmas Tree! We tried to go to the actual lighting ceremony, and got there a couple of hours early, only to find that not only was the viewing area filled, but even the adjacent streets were packed and we couldn't even get close. Bummer. I wonder how long those people who were in the front had to wait there...probably all day? I think its safe to say that the tourists are hard core and its pretty much impossible to go to big events here.

So we went home, watched it on TV and ate dinner, and then went back at around 11pm when everyone from the event had gone home, and there it was!

It was so beautiful! I just LOVE lit Christmas trees! This one is 74 feet tall, I think. The star is made of Swarovski crystals and the lights blink on and off in different colors. It really is an amazing sight. This was probably the only touristy thing I cared about seeing and I'm so glad that we went.

You can even ice skate under the tree! Its super expensive around the holidays though, so we're going to go somewhere else. And at this rink they only allow a certain # of people at a time, so the average wait time is over an hour just to get onto the rink. It would be pretty amazing to skate here though! We even saw a couple get engaged on this rink. :)

Our entertainment of the night was this one guy on the rink that was skating by himself, but was dancing around with his arms out and doing twirls. Seth says that he looked like a drunk thespian on ice skates. He was awesome. I love it when people are brave enough to not care about what other people think of them.

After the tree we ventured into midtown for a bit to check out the other Christmas decorations.

I love Christmas time! It's soooo much fun for me to experience the change of seasons and the extravagant holiday decorations since I've been in Hawaii the last 5 years and that stuff just doesn't happen over there! I love it. Especially the weather change. And the fact that we got to go see all of this stuff this week makes up for all the time I'm going to have to spend in lab growing tissue cultures this weekend. I think I'm going to make some time tomorrow to go buy some little christmas decorations for my little tree. :)

Have a great weekend and good luck on all of your FINALS [ughhh!]!

Hippies and protein synthesis

The only explanation I can come up for this is that these people were on some serious stuff when they made this video. Hey, it was the early 70's!

And all I can think about is that the T factor guy looks like Snape.

This video was actually shown to us in class as a means to teach us protein synthesis. It will probably work though because I can't get those hippie beats out of my head!

I wish that reenacting this was our final for this module. That would be awesome. Can I be the T factor?

A weekend without school

This last week has been so awesome, but yet so strange! I got Thanksgiving and the entire weekend off from school, and it was so weird to not have to go into lab or have to do some sort of assignment/study for multiple days! You better believe I took full advantage of my free time! Noelle was out here, so did all sorts of fun things!

I swear the majority of what we did was eat. I was going to go to the Macy's thanksgiving day parade, but it was SOOOOOO crowded and you couldn't see anything anyway, so I just started on Thanksgiving dinner instead. Noelle braved the crowds though, so maybe I'll steal a few pictures from her to post later. Thanksgiving consisted of tons of yummy food, football (not by choice..hehe), and seeing Harry Potter in the BIGGEST IMAX theater I have ever seen (it was awesome by the way).



We also ate at the most delicious Thai restaurant on Amsterdam:


Best pad thai ever. I usually don't like pad thai too much but they added the perfect amount of spiciness and flavor!





We also went out to try Magnolia's thanksgiving cupcakes, delicious cannolis, and a waffle from Wafels and Dinges food truck! (yum).


Black Friday here was a mess (Remember the employee who was killed? That was in NY!) so it wasn't worth going out shopping in the morning--- we made our way to the Natural History museum instead. It was fun! It was pretty crowded (isn't everything?), but it was worth going! They had so many awesome exhibits too see.




The best was the Hall of the Pacific Peoples!


Actually it wasn't the best. It was actually really lame. They could learn a lesson or two from the PCC. :)

Ocean room:


Probably my favorite thing about the museum (besides finding a stuffed neuron souvenir from the brain exhibit!) was this dinosaur origami Christmas tree!



I wanted to steal one and take it home with me!


And of course we did lots of shopping!
We went to the seasonal Union Square market place where they have a lot of fun booths/tables selling the most random and unique things!


And of course we hit up the biggest and best H&M and the 5 story F21.


I'm still recovering from all of the food/shopping/walking we did! It was fun having you here Noelle!

It definitely is hard to go back to school after a break like that. I'm already dying and its just been a day and a half back! Now is the final stretch through intensive lab work/finals/papers/all the fun that comes with finishing up school. I'm pretty much going to live in the lab for the next 3 weeks, but that will make Christmas break that much better when it comes. Let the final stretch begin!

**Or let it begin tomorrow because the Rockefeller tree lighting is tonight and I have to go! :)

..

Statue of Liberty

Finally made our way out to see the Statue of Liberty.

Its actually smaller than I thought!

Tons of more pics of last week to come. :)

Apple face

This is what I got when I asked Seth to grab me an apple from the fridge:

He says it tastes better when its cut into a face.

:)

As of late

As usual, my life is full of hectic grad school problems.

But I'm tired of being so stressed out all of the time!! So, since I did well on my last exam, I've decided to take it easy for the next week or so since Thanksgiving is coming up. I feel like I need it. And I've also selfishly decided that I deserve it!

So in the last week, I've made a point to get out of the library/lab and go out!

Last weekend, Seth and I went to go see MegaMind (btw the premiere was at the theatre right by our house a few weeks ago! Seth got to get a peek at Will Ferrell, but there were so many people around and I am the size of a midget, so I didn't see anything.), but when we got in the theatre, the only seats left were the ones in the very front row...ugh! So we got our money back and ventured around Lincoln Center for a while.

The steps at Lincoln Center have different sayings in different languages that flash on and off, and it was pretty hard to get a picture of them. The iphone has failed me.

After grabbing some dinner we stopped of at the gigantic Barnes and Noble by our house and ended up looking at pictures of bulldogs. Boy, do I miss my fatty. I picked up some sweet books as well (though I have no time to read) with the hopes that I will read them someday (Christmas break, maybe?).

And yes, I will be making Magnolia bakery cupcake goodness and pretending they are my own...ha!

Anyway, for the last two weeks I've been working on a gene regulation experiment only to turn up with no results yesterday...so instead of discussing my results with my PI (who's been a little on the unhappy side lately because our lab has been slow to produce results), I took off early to take a walk in central park with my hubs.

Whenever I go into central park, I immediately think of Fatty. Look how many people there are walking their dogs! I can just imagine rolling Fatty around central park in a red wagon because he's too fat/tired to walk himself. [sigh].

I've been meaning to go into central park to take some shots of the leaves changing colors, but I think I'm a little late...a lot of the trees are already bare! It was probably a lot prettier about 2 weeks ago or so.

One thing I love about NYC are all of the street performers/artists. We found a guy just standing around making gigantic bubbles. I was taking a picture of him when I finally realized that one of the bubbles was inches away from my face. I was too busy looking through my camera lens when one burst on me!

Right before the bubble explosion:

The best thing about fall are all of the LEAVES!

I just want to roll around in them! Don't worry I resisted the urge.

I love all of the color change here! I'm so happy that I finally get to experience a fall season with color change, layering, scarves, jackets, and hot apple cider! It's the best. I could seriously walk around central park forever. It's the most gorgeous place.

When the sun starts to go down, the lake is the best place to be. You can see the Loeb Boathouse in the distance! *still need to go there!*

A few more shots of central park because I can't get enough of the scenery:

Enough pictures for you? Sorry, I've been spastically gathering pictures throughout the week and then spilling them all out into one post lately.

Oh and today I stopped of at the Herald Square Macys. Funny thing is I've never thought much of Macys. But their flagship store in Herald square is incredible. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of their extensively decorated store front, with dancing people dressed up as fairies, lights, and animated story book window scenes. But the inside looked like this:

EEeeee! So Christmasy! The holidays are getting me excited.

OHHH, and as for the chocolate show, I feel lame to tell you that we didn't end up going....my PI had me come into the lab on Saturday. Lame lame lame I know, but my friend Antonia grabbed me some of the most delicious chocolate ever. The bite is from my chocolate loving husband, who found my stash.