JOYS!

Happy Sunday, lovelies.

"The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation"

Ps. 18:46

What a beautiful promise: The LORD lives.  How awesome is that?!  That right there is enough to make any day a joyful one.

It's a wonderfully dreary, drizzly, overcast day here in the Soggy Tundra.  That's right...it's finally beginning to melt, which makes for quite a soggy time right now.  But, I love it!  Momma, it feels more and more like I'm living in a Beatrix Potter story every day - and I absolutely love it!  I don't love the 5-10min it takes me to wipe down Jakers after we come in from a stroll outside, but I can deal with that  :)  I'm really enjoying the unveiling of spring here.  It's so refreshing and beautiful.  Don't get me wrong, we still have mountains of snow all over the place, but they are beginning to melt and there are patches of green grass and green mosses all over the place right now.  And, the chickadees...they are everywhere!  I've even heard a few gaggles of geese flying overhead the last week.  SPRING IS IN THE AIR!  Glory!

OK, clearly I love this season change and could talk about it forever, so I will digress  :)

How about some joys?  Sound like a plan?  Grood  :)


Monday, 7 March 2011 - RH lectured about Hymenoptera...seriously made my day.

Tuesday, 8 March 2011 - Free lunch for the grad students!!  Hooray! for guest seminar speakers  :)

Wednesday, 9 March 2011 - Had a hilarious conversations with the Markster all via email subject lines...seriously made my day...we are that kind of nerdy up here, haha.

Thursday, 10 March 2011 - One final go 'round with the Linnaean Games team before NCB...we always have a blast at our practices...man, I'm a nerd  ;)

Friday, 11 March 2011 - Took a nap!!  And it was glorious.

Saturday, 12 March 2011 - Spring cleaning!  Dusted, swept, mopped, cleaned windows, the whole shebang...always makes me happy as a lark. And, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARKSTER!

Sunday, 13 March 2011 - Day one of NCB!!  It was super fun to see some old, familiar faces and all the new ones filling up the conference center.  Even though we got totally served at the Linnaean Games that was still a blast, as well.

Monday, 14 March 2011 - Poster presentation? Check!  It went really well and I had a blast talking about my long lost wasps...you can think I'm crazy, it's fine  ;)

Tuesday, 15 March 2011 - UMN took home 5 awards at the awards ceremony!  Two for some 10min talks, and three for posters.  Represent!

Wednesday, 16 March 2011 - Phone date with Dr. Wharton.  He always brightens my day  :)

Thursday, 17 March 2011 - St. Paddy's Day!!!  Making meals with friends is always wonderful.

Friday, 18 March 2011 - Stroll through the woods with the pup and good friends.

Saturday, 19 March 2011 - Coffee date with Christine.  Oh how I do love my German  :)



And there you have it, lovelies.  Two weeks of joy!

What's been bringing joy to your life lately?

Be blessed in the Lord!
~MW

Happy, Happy. Joy, Joy.

Ah, Sunday.  How I do love you.

I absolutely love taking the pup out to play on our Sunday morning stroll/run around the dog park (as does he...all behavior goes out the window once he realizes that we are going to the dog park to....PLAY!!!).  This preceding or following my morning cup of coffee that is paired with scrolling through the weekly Post Secret - wonderful.  Then some general maintenance/clean-up around the apartment that got neglected or I simply didn't get to on Saturday...pretty wonderful, indeed.  All of that followed by Skype dates, homework, work, and church...makes for a pretty decent day.

So, I've been neglecting to post my joys for each week...but I most certainly have not been neglecting finding my joys in each day.  But, in an attempt to re-establish some accountability in the blogger world, here is this week's bundle of joy  :)

Saturday, 19 Feb 2011 - dinner at Kieran's Irish Pub, followed by an evening at Shout House Piano Bar with the gang in celebration of Trisha's bday!

Sunday, 20 Feb 2011 - truly enjoyed a relaxing snowy day...even though I was sad to see the green grass disappear again.

Monday, 21 Feb 2011 - I picked up my birthday present from the 'rents (more on that later!), followed by coffee & lunch with Megan on our way into campus (after having the morning off for a half snow day - happy bday, Trisha!!); new shipment of moths arrived at the lab!

Tuesday, 22 Feb 2011 - wonderful breakfast at Baker's Square with Megan and saw Christine for the first time since she had "abandoned" us to go back home to Germany for a week!

Wednesday, 23 Feb 2011 - was surprised by a little snowman awaiting me out on the Taurus, after a long...looong day (thanks, Fraser!).

Thursday, 24 Feb 2011 - super productive day (complete with a lovely little surprise of deeelish potato salad!) followed by Smash Burgers and Quest for the Holy Grail at Corey & Callies...we were all in serious need of some mindless humor.

Friday, 25 Feb 2011 - TURNED IN MY MINI GRANT PROPOSAL!!!  Whew!  And...found some pretties on sale at Jo-Anns  :)

Saturday, 26 Feb 2011 - went to the first hockey game I've attended since about 7th grade (way to rock it, Katy!), followed by breakfast for dinner, potluck style, at Megan's...mmm, mmm, gooood!


This week was beyond insane.  We were all on edge as the majority of us had numerous deadlines to meet this week and none of us felt like we were going to make all of them and stay on top of course work...well, we were right...we really didn't get much done in the way of course work, but we did meet our deadlines!  It was one of those weeks where you have to force yourself to stop and go do something (breakfast...watch a movie...) other than the pile of things awaiting you...or else madness will undoubtedly ensue!  We were able to curb the madness for the most part, though there were a few days that simply were too much...even profs were going a little crazy this week.  As RH put it early in the week: We've entered the vortex...it's going to be a long week.  Sooooo true.  But, the week is well over and after recouping a bit yesterday, most of us are back to normalcy, or so it seems, today.  We still have too much to do and so NOT enough time to do it in, but it will get done, don't you worry your pretty little heads  :)

Something I wanted to tell y'all about is what Spring is like here.  As I mentioned in my last post, we got a little taste of spring a few weeks ago.  Y'all, I am so excited for spring to finally get here - for real this time.  Momma, do you remember the beginning of the Beatrix Potter videos - how they start off with spring-time water trickles as she hikes off with her paint set?  That is what it is like here.  Everything melting (feet upon feet, upon feet of snow) as the sun starts to peek out from behind the clouds, so it's still a touch overcast.  Trickles of water running continuously (so it's always perfect for taking a little cat nap).  Green peeking through the melting white snow (really ice, at this point).  Birds chirping.  Insects humming.  It's lovely.  I saw a darling little chickadee yesterday with its tell-tale call of, "chickadee-dee-dee-dee-dee," and I just had to smile thinking about how awesome spring is going to be here.  I absolutely cannot wait!  Though, waterproof shoes are definitely a necessity - it's quite...squishy with all of that snow melting!

Ok, I told y'all I'd tell you more about my bday present from my parents, so here you go!  As many of you know, I've been in the market for a sewing machine for the last few years.  I've been looking at used ones, new ones, way old ones, etc...and just haven't really found something affordable that actually works...so, I've been holding out for that steal to come along.  Well...much to my surprise (I seriously could not believe my eyes), that is the very thing that my Momma and Daddy sent my way for my bday!  I love them...have I mentioned that before??  :)  They showered me with a brother xr-7700.  It. Is. AWESOME!!!  Ok...so I haven't used it quite yet, but dang, it can do SO much and it came with so many little extras!  So legit.  Look!!

That's some of the fabric I found at Jo-Ann's - super on sale!!  Wouldn't you all like to know what my plans are for it...?  Well...you'll just have to wait, it's a surprise  ;)


Here are some more sights from this week: the little snowman and deeelish potato salad, courtesy of Fraser - props on the potato salad, yo - you'd do well in Texas!

It's still quite snowy and frosty here.

 

Jakers got a new toy!!!  And he loooooves it!!

And now...after running around outside this morning and then playing with his new toy...he is one tuckered, pup  :)  Did I mention that he's spoiled...?  ;)

Well, I do believe that's all for now, kids.  Praying blessings on your Sunday and the week to come.

Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - it just started snowing again...

Joy, Joy, Joy!

Hello, all.

I know it's been forever, or so it seems, since I last updated, but...well, you know the next line: TIGS!  Even when classes aren't in session, there is SOOOO much to do!

Last week was wonderful in that respect, though - I didn't have any classes to worry about and I got to just work in the lab and meet with SW and figure out where we are going just what I am doing over the next 2.5yrs (yes, that sounds like a long time...but when you have the to-do list that I have, it seems like that is absolutely NO way I will get all of it done - I will, don't you fret..).  I've decided!  I'm doing a monograph for my thesis work!!  I'll do a post a little later on about what a monograph treatment is.  It's the part of taxonomy/systematics that I love, I'll just say that for now.  All in all, it was a great week.  And I closed it feeling satisfied and accomplished...it's been a while since I've felt like that at the end of a work week.

The 3-day weekend that followed that productive week was pretty grand, as well.  The first half of Saturday was full of Skyping and relaxing, the second half consisted of a ton of fun with Meg and Markster.  Markster picked me up and we grabbed Meg.  We grabbed some lunch at the Mall of America (seriously, there's like a bazillion restaurants in there...and we had some stuff to return and some gift cards to try to spend).  While at the MoA we saw this epicness:

The WHOLE ENTIRE thing was made of LEGOs...I. Want. One!

After running around MoA we continued on our path to REI so The Markster and I could procure our new parkas followed by the 3 of us trying on the most ridiculous winter hats in the clearance bin...oh man...we should have taken pictures.  It. Was. Epic.  And!  We all came away with a new hat that made each of us rather cheery.  After running home to let Jakers out the three of us went back to Meg's to work on....drum rooooooolllllll.....A GINGERBREAD HOUSE!!!  SO FUN!  The house had been constructed a few days earlier and the decorating had begun, but the bug dorks tricked that house oooooout!

Markster working hard on the roof.

 Meg and Markster working hard on adding our Harmonia infestation...that's right we are true dorks and added the tell-tale sign of fall/winter to the lovely little gingerbread house by adding and infestation of ladybird beetles - epic.

Ta-da!!  I was in charge of the icicles and filling in the gaps on the roof - I'm not gonna lie, I'm way impressed with my icicles...like, considered for a split second that I should change careers and be a gingerbread house decorator or something  :)

 See all those little pink clusters?  Those are our little Harmonia!!!  It looks just like a real infestation!  Little aggregations and all!

We didn't finish the backside of the house, the front and sides look pretty darn awesome, we think!

Sunday was a nice chill day...Skypage, church...it was a pretty good day.  I was especially blessed at church Sunday night, and it was wonderful.

Monday was awesome!!  We bug dorks plus a few other friends made brunch and had an absolutely lovely time together.  Everyone brought something to share with the group and we all just sat around with some nice folksy music in the background while we chatted, ate some delish food, sipped on coffee/tea/mimosas...mmmmmhmm!  We closed out our brunch time with some Strong Bad and Teen Girl Squad.  It was glorious.

Post brunch, was positively delightful, as well.  The Markster, Meg, Christine and myself went back to REI so I could exchange my parka for a different size - the sleeves were like half-way up my arms when I put the hood up on the first one...that's something I definitely should have checked at the store.  Oh well, REI makes it super easy for co-op members to make returns/exchanges.  We next ventured to a Starbucks for some coffee (we were all spent) and freaking awesome conversation.  Man, I love these kids so much!  After a couple hours there we went to TJMaxx so Meg could make a return and decided to kickoff our semester with a steakhouse dinner at Timber Lodge.  Oh my goodness, y'all, it was amazingly delicious.  And!  They messed up my order so they brought us a ginormous piece of whipped cheesecake.  Ummm...amazingly tasty.  Soooo grood  :)  We really had an awesome Martin Luther King, Jr. Day...it was incredible.  I can't wait to continue building and strengthening my relationships with my bug dorks here...seriously, such blessings to my life.

Week one (or rather, the first 4 days) of semester two was pretty decent, all-in-all.  Nothing went wrong or poorly...always a nice way to start a semester.  I made some more headway on my semester docket as far as what I need to do for my research/thesis stuffs - I still have a lot to do for this semester yet, but I'll get there.  Classes will be quite enjoyable, I think...just a lot of work...and I mean a LOT of work.  My museum studies - practices course will be especially heavy on the work load.  Yikes...papers and projects due every week!  Most of which require going to museums and writing papers and things about exhibits, pieces, etc...time consuming, to say the least.  Not hard or tedious, just time consuming...busy work.  I am excited to have an excuse to get out and see the museums around the area, though, that will be nice.  Time is just so lacking...oi vey...I so need more hours in the day or another day in the week...something, anything!

I'm trying to remember if there was anything super important that happened this week, or if it everything was just same ol' same ol' in the land of grad school...hmmm.  Well, I'll let you know later if I forgot anything.  Oh, we had our first Pig's Eye of the semester tonight.  I left pretty early, I'm just beat - I've fallen into another bought with insomnia...yay, no sleep!  No worries, though.  This happens from time to time, and it always passes with time..sometimes it takes a few months, but it hasn't killed me yet!

Ok, enough about school and work.  I'm sure you're all familiar with my friend Katy, over in Africa, who I've mentioned a number of times.  Well, if you aren't pay her a visit - her blogging is honest, fun, colorful, exciting, broken for the Lord, encouraging, pretty much just all around awesome.  One of her resolutions was to find joy in every day, whether it be in the little things or in big things.  I really like this idea - I think it will serve to help keep each day in perspective; so, even though I'm a few weeks behind, it's never too late to start, right?  I'll start with last Saturday.

Saturday, 15 Jan 2011:  (<-- it's still really weird for me to write 2011) Fun adventures around town with a couple of my favorite bug dorks.

Sunday, 16 Jan 2011:  Made some new friends at church - a lovely young family with two little boys.  Such a blessing!!

Monday, 17 Jan 2011:  Beautiful, real conversation with 3 of my absolute favorite bug dorks.  SUCH A BLESSING!!

Tuesday, 18 Jan 2011:  Meg and I trying to keep our snickers below audibility during insect behavior...it's going to be a gooooood semester  ;)

Wednesday, 19 Jan 2011:  DAY ONE OF INSECT TAXONOMY!!!!!!!!!!  This class = me.  Oh!  And lunch with some of the bug dorks I hadn't seen since being back.  Oh!!  And surviving the campus connector bus!  (I totally felt like a freshman all over again...)

Thursday, 20 Jan 2011:  First Frenatae meeting of the semester = seeing just about eeeeveryone I hadn't connected with since the break.  I love them  :)  Plus, departmental potluck lunch day...so grood.

Friday, 21 Jan 2011:  Catch up chat on the phone with SW...I am so blessed with two incredibly amazing advisors.  Like, really.  SW + RH = advisors extraordinaire  :)

So, yeah...it was a super blessed week, full of joy, joy, joy  :)

And now, my loves, I am off to bed.  Lots to do tomorrow before Meg's big start of the semester potluck bash tomorrow night.  And so, I will leave you with this:

My sleepy, super, super spoiled Jakers dog  :)

Praying all is well in your worlds.

Much love!

Shalom!

~MW

P.S. - it is officially cold, y'all.  This morning it was -18 degrees F...without wind chill...neeeeeeat!