What do you think people misunderstand
most about you?
I had to ask Justin for help on this and I
think he gave a good answer.It’s
something most people don’t understand about both of us actually and that is-
our jobs.Yes, we are students; no, we
don’t take classes; yes, we get paid; and no, we don’t pay tuition (technically
we do, the department just pays it for us).I’ve explained this to so many people and some of them multiple times
and it’s hard to separate the typical “college student” idea from what we
do.That’s because we’re science
graduate students.Science and
engineering grad students get paid to go to school.We don’t say that we’re “majoring” in
chemistry anymore; we do chemistry research.We took classes our first year but since then (so for over 3 years now)
we have been paid research assistants.Most
other graduate degrees take more courses than what we did but if you think
about it, they also typically have a hands-on section at the end of the
program.They just usually call it a
“clinical” or “rotation.”Science/engineering PhD programs are organized to not just train you how
to use multiple instruments and follow procedures but to be able to develop
those techniques yourself so the hands-on portion is longer and you learn a lot
on your own during that time.My
research (plasmonics) is in a fairly new field (it’s really only been recognized as its own
field for ~25 years) so there aren’t many textbooks about it.I read a lot of science articles and see if I
can get any ideas about what my own results might be indicating.That’s what we really do.Next year you won’t have to worry about it
though.We’ll actually have jobs and
I’ll just say “I teach chemistry.”So
much easier to understand!
In the vernacular of Quality Time, nothing
says, “I love you,” like full, undivided attention. Being there for this type
of person is critical, but really being there—with the TV off, fork and knife
down, and all chores and tasks on standby—makes your significant other feel
truly special and loved. Distractions, postponed dates, or the failure to
listen can be especially hurtful.
Hahaha!Love this- “nothing says, “I love you,” like
full, undivided attention.”That’s
right!It’s actually 100% accurate, just ask Justin.This is how I show other people I love them
too.
What popular notion do you think
the world has most wrong?
The phrase “It’s my life.”Hate to tell you but even though it is “your
life,” every single decision you make will have an effect on somebody
else.Every single one.It may be good or bad or not really matter at
all but it does affect someone else.Not
to mention it is just plain selfish and I hate selfish people.
What is your favorite part of your body and why?
I’d have to say that while there
are definitely things I don’t necessarily love, I am overall pretty happy with
my body.Shocking right?Apparently beauty ads aren’t convincing
enough because I’m ok with myself!My
favorite part would probably be my legs because I played volleyball and tennis
for so long and now I’m into mountain biking so those suckers are strong!They’re ridiculously skinny but it’s pure
muscle baby! At my bridal shower we played a game where my bridesmaids had recorded an interview with Justin and asked him what physical feature of mine was his favorite. He actually really shocked me when he said legs because he had honestly never told me that before!! I guess he thought it was too saucy to say before we were actually married.
Check out that quad! Woot! Hahahaha!! More like check out the lack of tan!
If you could have dinner with
anyone in history, who would it be and what would you eat?
I honestly don’t know.I don’t really have any personal heroes from
history, scriptural or otherwise.I mean
obviously it would be cool to have dinner with Jesus but hopefully I get to do
that for the rest of eternity right?Other people I like from history (in no particular order) Queen Esther, Marie
Curie, Einstein, Newton,
the Beatles, Jane Austen, James Dean, Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Peter (the apostle) & Ammon.
If it was my last meal I would
definitely want to go to Rodizio’s with Justin.That’s where we went to dinner the night he proposed to me and for our
first married Valentine’s Day so it’s kind of special to us.And delicious.It’s a Brazilian barbecue restaurant- Dad,
you would think it’s heaven.
First off I have to say I am super excited to have my computer back! Turned out my old monitor just died and Justin was finally able to find the exact same one (because I liked it so much) on eBay for a pretty good price. Blogging should be much easier and happen more often :) Back to the list of Things!
Describe your family dynamic of
your childhood vs. your family dynamic now.
Well it’s definitely a lot less
crazy now.There are only two of
us.As the youngest of six kids I think
it’s safe to say my life started out more chaotic and noisy and got calmer as
we all grew up and siblings started moving out on their own.Not to mention that we added a few rooms to
the house when I was about 10 and the extra space meant we weren’t living in
such close quarters anymore.I think it
was easier being the youngest because it was fun watching my siblings do their
activities and by the time I was old enough to participate in school sports,
etc. Mom and Dad had more free time to come watch me.All six of us kids are very close in age
(only 9 years, 10 months separate me from the oldest) and that played a big
role in how close we are.
I can't even remember when we took this but it is the only (professional) picture I have of all 8 and just 8 of us. I think I might be about 12 years old.
For the most
part we all got along very well.We had
family dinner and even breakfast together all the time and played games as one big family
most Sunday evenings.Holidays and
birthdays were special events.Mom and
Dad taught us how to work also.We had
chores but didn’t get paid an allowance.We lived in that house so we had to help out.My future children may hate it but they'll get the same training :) We also pitched in as much as we could when
the addition to the house was built.I
couldn’t exactly pour concrete or lay bricks but I remember cleaning the excess
cement off the bricks with a wire brush and even sandblasting rust off the
pool. Haha, that sounds rough but I really had a happy
childhood.We weren’t handed everything
on a silver platter but we definitely weren’t slaves either.It was a good balance.I honestly don’t know how my parents did it
with 6 kids so close in age.
So let’s see, my family dynamic
now.Well, with respect to my parents
and siblings we are still all pretty close.Holidays are even more special than they used to be because those are
the few days throughout the year that we can all get together anymore.We are all currently married and I have a ton of nieces and
nephews.We’ve always had a big group in
our family photos but it’s gigantic now (31 people and counting).
A little different than the previous "Original 8"!!!
We kids still get along pretty well, if anything even better than when we were young.
See!!
My personal little family is great.I’ve mentioned before that I waited a long
time to find someone as amazing as Justin (I was 26 and he was 28 when we got
married) but it was so worth the wait.I
could hang out with that guy all day, every day and not get sick of him.That’s not to say that being married is easy,
we still have to compromise once in a while but it’s been a really great couple
of years.And yes, we’re hoping to
expand our little family soon.No, we’re
not baby hungry but three years alone is a good foundation and we’re almost
ready to be parents.
I love rhyming titles! So fun!! Last weekend Justin and I went to a few events at the World Cup Freeskiing competition in Park City. We saw aerials on Friday (hence the flips) and dual moguls on Saturday (the dips). There is an undergrad researcher who works in my lab that does some of these freeskiing competitions (on the amateur level) and she said dual moguls are the most exciting to watch even though it's not an Olympic event. She was right! It was so cool!!
Misha actually texted me Thursday night and said she was flying in to SLC Friday night so she watched the aerials with us. I love when she surprises us with visits! We got to Deer Valley late so we only got to see the last two rounds but that meant we saw the medal round which was pretty cool. Check out how high they get!
I took a few videos too. This first one is a girl who looked really good but then crashed on the landing. Ouch!!
Here's one of the men's finalists:
And the gold medal winner. Listen carefully at 11 seconds. The Tarzan yell would be my husband :)
Justin's dad joined us on Saturday for the dual moguls competition. This is different than the regular moguls event (which was on Thursday) because it's a race. There are still judges though so you not only have to beat the other racer but you have to ski cleaner and do better tricks. There were a couple of races where the racer who won by 0.1 seconds actually lost because the other guy had a better score. Here's the course:
And some cool races. First, the women:
They look like they're performing a pairs mogul routine. I really liked when the skiiers did the same trick simultaneously. It just looks cool.
Hannah Carney from the great USA won.
The men are just so much faster though.
Which can lead to crazy wipeouts. This wasn't even the worst one!
