Give a homeless pooch a second chance!

This is a wonderful opportunity for all you animal lovers.  

The Shelby County Humane Society is super-overcrowded, so many adoptable dogs are sent to the sister shelter in New Hampshire where they can be adopted out quickly.  New Hampshire has done an amazing job with their spay/neuter laws, so there are not very many animals available for adoption up there.  Once the dogs reach the New Hampshire shelter, they are almost always adopted out to their "forever home" within a week.  

You can help sponsor a dog's trip for just $50.  A wonderful photographer, Jeronimo Nisa, has volunteered his services to take photos of the hopeful traveling pooches and make Christmas ornaments out of them.  Each donor chooses the dog they would like to sponsor, makes the donation, and they receive their ornament.  You can also make a donation and purchase an ornament in honor of someone else as a thoughtful Christmas gift.  $50 can be a lot of dough, especially during the holidays, so I am actually splitting the cost with someone else to sponsor a dog.

Here is the link if you would like to learn more about how you can help the Shelby County Humane Society:  

Give Life a Second Chance!

The poster child for "Give Life a Second Chance"

Sometimes days are like that (even in Austrailia).

I'm feeling a bit sad and anxious at the moment.  I'm not sure why exactly, and I'm certainly not sure why I'm admitting it to the internet of all things.  

My day was not particularly bad.  I got lots of stuff done that I'd been putting off, with only a few minor annoyances. I have a very productive week planned, and with the exception of a lecture I have to give, it will be relatively stress-free. I just had a really long weekend, that was pretty relaxing, except for me destroying my knees (see previous post). Got the house cleaned, etc.

But there's a buildup of junk that just needs to go away, and I feel completely helpless for most of it.  Rob's trying desperately to finish grad school, but feels himself falling behind.  We are so ready to be done with this stage of our lives-I think it's wearing on us without us really realizing it.  I mean, I'm sure he realizes it. I remember being so close to done, but having so much left to do. It's frustrating.  I don't put pressure on him-he is really good at doing that to himself. We're ready to move on.

The holidays are coming.  I'm excited for the time off and excited to see family, excited to do it all.  But it is still stressful.  Even good stress is still stress, after all, and still gives you pimples.  That's another thing.  I'm almost 30 years old and please someone tell me why I still get breakouts?  Anyway.

I do realize that all of this is just....life. 

Anyway, I just don't feel at ease today, and even though everything is technically fine, I'm reminded of my favorite book, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". I always think to myself when things are going off-kilter that "sometimes days are like that, even in Australia".

And for something a little more adult:


"And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore, be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham,
drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy."

from: Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

Now that I've projected my malcontent into the internet, I feel better, and I think I might have some wine and go to bed.  How's that for excitement??

I'm thankful for guns, my nephew Tye, and running.

Thanksgiving was fun!  Rob and I went to my grandma's house, which is hopelessly in the country.  So much in the country that you pretty much have to call it "cawn-tray".  Anyway, we stayed two days and I came armed with cranberry bread, fresh cranberries for cranberry sauce, and sweet potato casserole (Yes, Gary, I used your recipe unaltered.).  My parents brought the turkey and dressin' components, my sister brought her baby, Lee brought a gun, and we had Thanksgiving.

The highlight of the trip might have been the rope swing and target practice. No, these activities were not combined, but that could have been fun if any of our exes had shown up. I played with the nephew, who really only gets cuter by the second, and he played with Bells, who LOVES children.

Then I went for a run yesterday, totally tripped over a tree root, and skidded to a stop on my knees.  You might think that running tights would offer some protection.  Not so.  I now have to gear up to bend/extend my legs, which means yoga will be fun this week, and getting my shoes on this morning was a challenge.

Anyway, various photos below. Hope you all had a fun Thanksgiving!

Rob tries out the rope swing.  The tree is not that sturdy.

Our little collection of targets we found in the yard.  

I been trying to tell y'all how redneck I am, I think I can finally illustrate it.

Rob shoots-gotta have one skill in case that mean lookin' father in law ever gives chase.  

I show off my skills.  Not so good with a handgun, turns out.

But look out if you see me with a rifle, I learned to shoot those at 7 years old!

I wish this photo hadn't turned out blurry.

Still, Dad looks kickass.

The only kid that makes me want to have them:

Tye and Bells get acquainted on the couch.

To the Grinches

I'm ready for Christmas music NOW.

My favorite Christmas song is by Lady Gaga & Space Cowboy.  Stop judging.

I love Christmas preparation. I'm about 95% done shopping, and have almost finished making our cards to send out.  I've made a plan for coordinated wrapping, judge me if you want-I know all of this will fly out the window as soon as I have kids. Wrapping gifts is my favorite activity ever, followed closely by making cards, baking "once-a-year" goodies, planning said goodies, and sitting by the Christmas tree at night with no lights turned on except the ones on the tree. 

Christmas Day is never as fun to me as Christmas prep, therefore I milk Christmas prep for all it's worth.  I love picking out gifts for people, wrapping them and thinking it's just a perfect gift.  I like to imagine what their reaction will be when they open it. Sometimes I'm disappointed, but usually not.  I'm good at shopping.

I am thankful, don't get me wrong, for all the blessings in my life.  A healthy body and soul, a great husband, both of our families, and even our precious Homie, Slick, and Bells.  But Thanksgiving is a hell of a lot of trouble for the time you get, and it's just not really that fun. I am excited to see my parents and grandmother, but could really do it with a bbq or something less intense.

So, grinches:  Christmas is coming.  If you don't want to hear Christmas music, don't come to my house, my car, or my office.

Get ready.  Get over it. And stop frowning at the Christmas spirit!

A restraining order for Jesus!

So. My friend Edie got a letter IN THE MAIL from Jesus! Not quite as fun as a letter from SANTA, but I guess entertaining still.  Jesus has bad handwriting, but I guess English wouldn't be His first language.

My Response?  WTF! (the exclamation is meant to be a factorial)

Be careful lady, this Jesus might be dangerous.

Here is the letter, followed by the contents.

"Daughter,

I love you with an everlasting love ! I died upon a cross to set you free! Repent! Turn from Your many sins before it's too late!

If you obey Me Now, turn from your many sins and grant your faith & trust in Me, then I will lead forgive and save you.
Repent and only believe,
Jesus
John 3:16. "

A complete review on the SfN Conference of 2010. By: Keri Mans, Ph.D., Age 29, Scientist.

We had a great time in San Diego.  As promised, here is a pretty thorough review of all the goings-on.

The first day of the meeting is always crowded and overwhelming.

You know they are all scientists by their fabulous fashion sense (me included).

Drinks are usually needed immediately, resulting in some compromising situations.

There are tons of amaze-balls food choices right near the conference center.

During the poster sessions, we kept vigilant watch to prevent recording devices.

Wouldn't want that presh data getting stolen.

If you get tired, there's plenty of seating on the floor 

around the perimeter of the convention center.

If you are lucky, you might learn 

that you can't be siamese twins with your friend 

whose hair is a different color.

And also that cabbies won't let 5 people in a cab--

even if two of them are siamese twins.

After 5 straight days of science, we simply wanted out.

Mostly for more drinks.

In the end, everyone was energized to get back to the lab

to try out their new ideas!

Great conference, let's do it again next year!

**Thanks to Abby for letting me steal photos of people, since all I really took were photos of animals.**

Triumphant Return

Hellooo!  We have (sadly) returned back to Birmingham from sunny San Diego!  Actually we have been back since Thursday, but shit man, it's been busy.  Jada had a birthday, then we went to a Thanksgiving potluck.  Combine that with the fact that my very demanding family wants me to make not one, but TWO dishes for the turkey table, I've just got my hands full. Can I be 8 years old again, please?

Newest news:  I'm almost done making Christmas cards, if I could just find the photos that I cropped to stick in. Damnit I have misplaced pretty much everything over the past couple weeks.

Furthermore:  I will NOT be running the Mercedes Marathon in February, because the training was ruining my life and killing my soul, along with my marriage.  Amy and I continue to run, but plan on doing the half marathon as buds.  This will free up time for us to do other, more fun, things together, yay!

Here are a few pictures from San Diego, but I promise a full report on all the festivities tomorrow.  It will be fabulous.

The "Spam-cation" cruise ship was towed into the harbour:

Trifecta from hell does SfN, again.  

Abby is leaving and we are currently interviewing for her replacement. 

Get ready to fill some impressive shoes, bitches.

Gautam interrogates poor Jada about that time he aggressively interviewed her for grad school.

She is distressed even now, and he wants to know why is she found him intimidating.

Also, there were 4 (FOUR) glasses of vodka involved.

Guess you had to be there.

Happy Sunday!

Cali-bound!

Heading to San Diego tomorrow a.m. for the Society for Neuroscience conference!

Let the bad dressing and hanging out on the autism spectrum commence!

Oh, and let's not forget the tequila!

Have a wonderful week and weekend, will be back with photos!

Much Love!

Thank You!

Don't forget to thank a veteran today!

Thanks to all the veterans who have selflessly sacrificed their time and a lot of their freedom to protect ours!

My favorite veterans (photos included where I have them):

Tommy Serio (godfather)
Dorothy Porcello (friend from HS)
Clifton H. Massey (grandfather)
Paul Shumaker (grandfather)
Richard Stoll (super awesome friend that I adopted into my family)

Dorothy looks at art in NOLA.  

Who says Marines can't have culture?

Tommy and Donna at my dissertation defense.

A recent photo of Rich and Eileen at Rikki's birthday dinner.

Thanks again to you all.

Doctor of "Prefab Furniture Assembly"

I got a new bookshelf for my office and I deemed this worth telling the internet about!  Emma and Miguel suggested I have Rob put it together.  I take offense at such suggestions and it really only makes me more stubborn than previously thought.

I decided against pouting at my husband until he flooded my office with tools and profanity, and Monday I put together my new office bookshelf all by myself.  It was quite an adventure.  It's about my height, and it came with about a million little screws and doo-dads.  But it's done.  And of course there are pictures! Terrible ones from my cell phone.

All the pieces unpacked.

 Starting to put the doo-dads and whatnots into their respective positions.

This gets worse before it gets better.

Do you think these are important?

I mean, I don't know if there should be leftovers.

Level? Close enough.

 A job well done if I do say so myself.

Drop it Low! It's your Birthday!

My sister turned 21 this past weekend, which called for an epic celebration.  Well, epic by my 29 year old standards anyways.  We had a great time!

Rob and Jeff went to Nashville to see the Gators play Vandy, and I had my own adventures planned for once!

Edie went with me down to the exciting town of Picayune, MS on Friday night where we spent the night at Rikki's apartment. Then on Saturday we played with baby nephew Tye and went to the street fair, arguably the most exciting thing that ever happens in this dry county.  But not to worry, because in the afternoon we checked into our Biloxi hotel room!  We dressed for dinner at the IP casino (SO delish), had some drinks in the hotel and at the casino lounge, and ate with some family members.  Then we went back to our hotel after a LOOONG wait at valet parking, changed out of our "family-friendly" outfits, and headed to the Hard Rock Casino.  They have an awesome dance club with one of the best DJs I've ever seen. Plus a great bartender who basically kept my glass full of Crown.  We danced the night away in non-sensible shoes, and even with the time change (fall back), we went to bed at 4 a.m.  Wow.  Rikki had a great birthday!

Sunday we got up at 9:30 or so (lots of sleep for a 21st birthday I think), and I realized that the only coffee cups we had in the hotel room were made out of paper and had vodka still in them from the night before.  Not to worry.  Edie and I (the old ladies that need coffee) had some vodka flavored coffee to get us going.  Then we headed out for some panini and back to the 'Yune. After a quick visit with my mom and dad, we headed home.  The run this morning was somewhat difficult, but all in all I feel good!  

Thanks Edie for being a great travel companion, you rock. Photos below!

We started the a.m. hanging out with my presh nephew Tye! Yes, that's me in the ball pit.

Rikki's first trip to a "likker store"!

Nikki made Rikki a cute bday cake, and I found this wine glass at the street fair!

 At the Chill Lounge for drinks before dinner!  How exciting-a night of firsts!

Family friendly outfits for dinner. 

I would like to note that I am in 3 inch heels and Edie is in flats.

It took almost half an hour for valet to bring my car around!  

Silly Sarah McLachlan concert-goers.

More sad faces about waiting for the car:

At the hotel, ready to party!

Rikki and Nikki are so much better at "smoky eye" than Edie and I.

Sisters!

Seksi!  Also, Edie, you are amazingly tall in those slutty red heels.

Love my travel companion for the weekend.  

Apparently she sleeps much better when she's "sleeping around".

Ah.  Tube shots.

A toast to legality!

(I mean, I've figured out it's over-rated.  But still.)

I have clearly failed at sexy mask-wearing. 

It seems to be highlighting my fine lines and wrinkles.

However, I have to note that my lower half looked pretty fine 

in a dangerously short dress, purple tights, and high heeled ankle boots.  

Benefits of running!

 We ran into a very obliterated Chelsea at the Hard Rock Casino dance club.  

I gave her water to drink.  Her response?  "OH MY GOD IT'S SO STRONG!"

Chelsea's nearing the end here, but we still had a few hours left in us!

Smart to have only one "morning after" photo!

Super fun and much-needed weekend!

Happy Monday!