What's for dinner?

Did you know that pizza tastes better when your husband writes your initials on it in pepperoni?

Well it does.

**This is also the product of my lazy self refusing to cook a full dinner + a nice hubby whose willing to make me one instead**

Things I love!

Today I wanted to share with you some of the things that I love and that I couldn't live without!

1. First of all, this is my new favorite find: Benefit Boi-ing concealer.

It's labeled as an industrial-strength concealer, and boy does it cover everything! I can't believe I've never owned this stuff before! The color matches my skin completely without making it look like I have concealer on, and neutralizes imperfections on your skin. It really helps me out with circles under my eyes from all night study sessions. Everyone must own this!

2. Trader Joes Butter Waffle Cookies

I feel like every time I go into Trader Joes I find something amazing. This time it was these butter waffle cookies! There's so much you can do with them--you can eat them right out of the box, you can use them to scoop ice cream, make ice cream sandwiches...etc! I think I'm slightly addicted. Yum!

3. Lululemon Power Y tank

This tank is the best one I have ever used for yoga. I think I've tried just about everything, from cotton t-shirts, to regular tanks, to athletic gear from multiple brands, but this tank is the best! It's the only one that doesn't bother me while I'm in practice, and I don't have to keep constantly adjusting it! And did I mention that its comfortable? It has a built in bra, and is fitted so it doesn't slide up or down during inversions and arm balances-- it stays put. That is huge to me because I don't want the person behind me to get a peep show!!!!!! The only thing is that its a bit pricey, but I think its worth it, since I practice 4+ times a week. And it has lasted me years! And if you think about it, the cost of one of these tanks is less than buying multiple cheap ones that are uncomfortable and deteriorate more quickly over the same amount of time.

4. Tide To Go pen

I've probably mentioned a million times how this product is amazing, but it really is! Its gotten to the point where I've put one everywhere: every purse, my backpack, my lab bench..etc. So far its been able to get out every stain that I've thrown at it. I am clumsier than I would like to admit, so food/drinks being spilled on my clothes isn't something irregular to me. So a Tide pen is a must, right? It even gets out chemicals!! I've even gotten people in my lab to love it because spilling [non-harmful and non-abrasive] chemicals on your clothes/lab coat sucks--- but have no fear...I have a Tide pen!!!

5. Tweezerman Tweezers

I'm pretty sure I got introduced to this product by my mom, and I have never gone back. I have giant, bushy, unmanageable Greek eyebrows, and a great tweezer is a must. These things are sharp and slanted, and can pull out the tiniest and most stubborn of hairs. I've never used anything better, and are so far, the only thing I've found that can combat these monstrous eyebrows of mine.

6. Vans Lo Pro Gore

Shoes are kind of a foreign thing to me after coming from slipper-wearing Hawai'i, but now I have no choice but to cover up my toes! Naturally, my feet have been slightly resistant to shoes; getting sore feet and blisters, but these are the only shoes that I have that my feet love! They are so comfy and easy to walk in, that I take these wherever I go. Its too cold to wear them outside, so I wear boots (that hurt!) to wherever I have to go (usually school) and then change when I get there. Love these!

7. Benefit Bad Gal Plum Mascara

The regular black Bad Gal mascara is my all time favorite mascara, but now they have it coming out in a Plum color! Normally I would think colored mascara can be a bit gaudy, but this stuff is perfect. I have the blackest of black eyelashes, so when I put it on, you can only see a tiny hint of plum, which can be the perfect accent to some purple shades in my outfit! It can be a fun thing to wear to add a little color to a boring and drab winter outfit. Plus this mascara just does wonders for your eyelashes in general.

Today is such a beautiful day in NYC! Its almost 50 degrees and I feel like running around in shorts and a T shirt! The weather here is wacko---it can go from 20 degrees to 60 degrees (like we had last week). Its driving me crazy! But I'm hoping I can finish off the day with a walk through central park, and then making a nice Sunday dinner!

Have a great Sabbath!

The low down.

Things have been pretty average as of late. Seth and I are both in our second semesters of grad school, which means an extended schedule and more tests! And for me, more hours in lab.

Seth is doing awesome in school, and he loves his classes. The Columbia campus is awesome, so Seth got me a library card so I can go up there and study with him! The library is so much bigger and nicer than mine, and its nice to spend time with Seth, even if its just sitting across from each other in a library studying all day! Plus the Columbia campus has incredibly delicious food and I love to take dinner breaks. :)

When it comes to me and school, I think I've hit some sort of brick wall. As the hours of lab research and class increase, the less enthusiastic I'm becoming. What I've started to learn, is that undergrad science is SO DIFFERENT from real research and applicable science. In undergrad school, you just learn and regurgitate information, and follow written lab protocols. In grad school, you have to think and come up with your own protocols to determine answers to your hypotheses. AND NOTHING EVER WORKS. Every postdoc and PhD that I've worked with has told me that science doesn't work 99.9% of the time, and that you need to learn to accept that in order to make your life easier. Anyway, so the research project that I've been working on for the last 7 months has come up with negative results every time I try to take a different route to determine whats going on with this protein! So during lab meeting this last Friday, my PI told me that we're completely scrapping my project. It was painful to hear since I've pretty much slaved over that project for so long! I was so bummed about it, but I got lots of pep talks from others in the lab telling me that this is normal, and that if I accept that projects usually won't work I won't be so bummed about it next time. I guess that's not much of a pep talk...huh? So pretty much the combination of endless studying, never-ending lab work, and booooorrrring classes...has left me not too happy about the school scene. It will get better though. The day I get a positive lab result will be the best day ever.

Anyway, for Valentines day, we went to go see the Daily Show! That was like my life dream. We waited in line for 4 hours! It was worth it though, because we were #'s 10 and 11 in line out of a couple hundred, and we sat in the front!

We were so tired after the long wait (and I was wearing a skirt and HEELS people!!---biiiiiggg mistake...my legs were going to fall off.), but it was worth it. We had a warm up comedian come out, and he was actually funny! He talked to the audience a lot and got us laughing. When we went to the Late show with Letterman, the warm up guy sucked, so thats what I was expecting here, but I was pleasantly surprised! And then Jon came out and I almost died. I think I screamed my lungs out. He was SO awesome! He talked to the audience and answered questions for ~10 min and he is soooo much funnier in person than on TV! And of course it was just awesome to see him tape the Daily Show and to see all of the news team correspondants. And what I loved about Jon was that in-between commercials he would crack jokes and talk to us some more! So after the show we loved The Daily Show and Jon Stewart a billion times more! It was such a great experience. Now I can't wait to compare that experience with the Colbert Report taping, which we're going to on Tuesday! :)

So other than that, we've pretty much just been bookworms in the library. I'm sooo ready for spring and summer to come! I can't even tell you how white I'm getting from the lack of sun. Its disgusting! I also think a lot of my lowered mood has to do with lack of sun....its been cloudy/snowing/raining/gloomy here for a while, and I'm so used to tons of sun and vitamin D! Bring on the sun Mother Nature!!!! I can't take it any more!!

Today we went to go to the Museum of Natural History on 81st street to go see the Brain exhibit, but when we got there, it was sold out, so we just roamed around the dinosaur exhibit instead.

It was so nice to get out of the house and do something fun! Seth promised that he would finally take me ice skating next week. I'm excited! It's been so long since I've done that. This coming week is going to be a good week.

Oh and I've been missing my baby Fatty so much, of course!

Have a great week!

Facelift!

I've been a little down about my rough and tough school schedule and lack of results in my lab the last little bit, and haven't gotten to blogging....or have even wanted to really. So, the only remedy I could think of for fixing that was getting a new facelift on the blog! With the help of my talented friend Aarean from LaDitta Design, this was the result. Aarean hand-drew my header design! You likey?

Anyway, I will get back to you later tonight with a post of whats been going down in the Kressin home lately. Today we're off to go to the Natural History Museum! :)

Blog? What blog?

Wow its been almost an entire MONTH since I've last posted!--Sorry.

My excuse is that school has pinned down all of my time, and I have also been busy with catching multiple colds (New Yorkers: Stop giving all of your germs to me!).

School and lab are just about as boring as ever. We're learning about cell signaling and the cytoskeleton.....and boy I had no idea there was so much information on such boring topics!! Each class is just a fight against my will to stay awake. Also, I think the snow and lack of sun is starting to make me depressed! I'm so used to endless Hawaiian sunshine that all of this darkness and snow is getting to me. I need some sun and vitamin D!! Luckily today is somewhat warm (~45 degrees?) so its not that bad. Really all of this just has me counting down the days until Spring break, where hopefully the combination of a cheap plane ticket and some scrounged up savings can get us somewhere sunny (Florida?).

So other than school, we haven't really done much because of the weather, but this weekend Seth took me to Hoboken, NJ to go get some cannolis from Carlo's Bakery (from Cake Boss)! Cannolis are my all-time favorite food, so I was excited! The weather was terrible! It was raining ice and mush, and I had just caught another cold, but I went anyway (thats how much I wanted my cannolis!). It was interesting trying to find our way over there. You have to buy a separate pass for the trains that cross the rivers, and it was a couple of stories underground to get there...but eventually we found it and made our way over.

Apparently the line is just as long on a rainy day as a sunny day..it went all the way around the corner!

But no line/sleet/cold virus will keep me from a world-famous cannoli.

I couldn't believe how crowded it was inside. You could barely move and you had to shout your order across like 5 other people! The only person I recognized from the show was Frankie. He was walking up the stairs carrying a cake.

And we made it out with a box of glorious fresh cannolis!

These were hands down the best cannolis I've ever had! You can bet that box was eaten pretty fast. Just looking at these pictures makes me want more.

Anyway, so that was our weekend. I was so sick by the time we got home I almost passed out. But I managed to eat a few cannolis and went back to my sick bed for the day.

And guess what, I am going to have the best Valentine's day EVER next week...

because I'm going to go see Jon Stewart on the Daily Show!! YESSSS! We're so excited to go. I'm seriously going to wait in line all day so I can get in the front row. Look for us! Or listen--I'll be the one screaming like a crazy person when Jon Stewart comes on.