The Ring

My family has begged to see my engagement ring actually on my hand even though it looks just like the picture I posted before. Anyway, here it is!


I gave a totally wretched group talk today. This new(ish) computer refused to show my presentation on the projector. Then I borrowed someone else's laptop but copied the wrong files over to it and so when my presentation came up it was an old version of the slides. This threw me so off that I actually just stared silently at one slide for at least one minute. I blame it on the fact that this is my first conference presentation and I was overwhelmed with its importance. Even though it was just a presentation to my lab group. Blegh. I got good feedback though and I have some ideas on how to fix it and do better next time.

Engaged!!!

Well, you all know by now (unless you're a lurker, in which case I don't feel bad) that Chris and I are engaged! Yay! It happened a week ago. We went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants (Trellis) and after they had cleared our plates I saw him fumbling in a pocket. Then he said, "I have a very important question to ask you" and he got down beside me on one knee. And then I started kissing him and he had to say twice, "But wait! I haven't asked yet!" before I would let him say "Will you marry me." And of course I said yes! And then we kissed some more and smiled like total idiots. Love struck is the word for it I believe.

We called my parents first because it was kind of late in Tennessee with the time change. My sister was visiting and they all seemed really really happy. My dad knew something was coming because that sneaky boy had actually asked my father for permission while we were visiting Tennessee. Ha! I thought there was something fishy about how he was studiously cleaning up his computer desktop instead of coming to bed that one night that my dad was up late reading the newspaper. I was so tempted to put my ear to the door but managed to resist.

Next we called Chris's parents, who were in separate states at the time. They both asked to speak with me and told me that they'd considered me part of the family for a long time and now they were glad it was going to be official. Aren't they fabulous? Then of course we called brothers and sisters and friends and then about 12 hours later I left for Tassajara for a book club bachelorette weekend (4 of 6 of us are now engaged) and Chris went to Taiwan until August 30th. Ugh!

Yes, Chris got me a ring. Platinum band, sapphire in the middle, a diamond on each side. Here's a picture of almost the exact thing. Very pretty, huh? Sadly it was a size 6 and my finger is a fatty 7 1/4. I took it to the jeweler and they're resizing it (a rush job, since it's an engagement ring!) and I should have it on Monday. Meanwhile I'm actually manging to not bite my fingernails so they'll look nice if I actually have to show my hands to people. Maybe I'll get a manicure to celebrate.

Tassajara was amazing, as expected. Chris took the camera to Taiwan so I'll have to post someone else's photos. I drove down with Aimee on Friday morning because she was able to get off work too. We arrived just before lunch and began an amazing weekend of eating excellent vegetarian food, sleeping in cabins under perfect down comforters, and relaxing in the bathhouse. On Saturday we also hiked up a creek for a mile? two miles? to these amazing pools and waterfalls. Now that I think about it I'll really have to bug the girls for photos, because it was a very cool place. It was sad to leave there - it's just so beautiful and peaceful. I showered like three times a day and read a book and knitted and slept a lot. Just perfect.

In work related news I had a meeting with my advisor last Thursday where we discussed these experiments he wanted me to do and I told him I thought they would take me 4 weeks. He told me that as a manager he always multiplied time estimates by 3 because people just never factor everything in. I took off Friday and was away the whole weekend and gave him a demonstration of all the experiments yesterday. So much for inflated timelines. I guess we both underestimated me. Of course now there's a whole new list of experiments to do. But I don't feel bad leaving early tomorrow to go try on wedding dresses. Tee hee....

Now a couple of photos: This picture is from when Chris's parents were visiting at the beginning of August and we blew off work one afternoon and went to Half Moon Bay. In this particular photo I'm about to kick Chris's butt at "jump-your-own" checkers. (He insisted that it was because he'd never played that game before and the strategy was so different. I haven't played that game in like 15 years.) We were at a little cafe that had checkers at every table. Very cool - but we kind of didn't talk to each other because we were all intent on playing the game.

Chris took this photo at the top of Taipei 101, the worlds tallest building. He said it was a damper, but I can't really understand what we're seeing anyway. It's a lovely photo though.

Margaret Ann

I've always said that I'm really lucky. Just some of the luck is bad. My mother's mother, Meme, died today. I'm not sure what of exactly, but some combination of Parkinson's and just being old. I remember her best from when she lived in Wake, Virginia (a.k.a. the middle of nowhere). She lived on this great old farmhouse thing with lots of land and a big shed out back and a riding lawnmower. And I'd wake up there in the morning smelling bacon that I still crave. And she had the Lord's Prayer printed on a cloth on the wall and these little Bible sayings you could pull out of a plastic loaf of bread. And she used this powder that I can't think of how it smells just now, but if I ever smelled it again I'd definitely recognize it.

I'm not going home for this funeral - I talked about it with my mom before I left Tennessee last time. We've known she was doing badly for awhile - when I was first home after my father got sick I heard about her doing poorly and Grandpa falling at about the same time. And I just laughed. At some point you just get filled up with sad and the only thing left is laughing. My sister was saying she feels the same way - like there's just no emotions left for this. Anyway, my sister and Mom and Dad are all going to Virginia for the funeral where Meme will be buried next to Grandaddy. Mostly I feel bad that I can't be there for my mom and Aunt Teresa.

On a happier note, my sister found this picture in my dad's office:

Heart Palpitations

Last night in the middle of the night (5am?) Chris woke up with heart palpitations. He and I have both had a couple of these, now and then, where your heart feels like it's messing around for a couple of beats and then goes back to working. This one had lasted for minutes and he was really worried and we didn't know what to do but fortunately it went away after about 20 minutes. He went into the doctor today and the doctor said nothing is wrong - that it's normal to have some heart palpitations and it feels like you're going to die but really you aren't. He's taking some blood work just in case and told Chris to try to not stress too much, have too much caffeine or eat too much chocolate (?!). Also to lay off the cocaine. Ha. Anyway, it made my heart hurt just to know his heart was having problems.

We had dinner this evening with a friend of ours from Chris's lab - a pretty tough guy really. It's kind of cute though - his girlfriend has been on vacation for 2 weeks and has another week remaining and he's as close as I've ever seen him to being a mess. Apparently he doesn't sleep right when she's away and so he's experiencing severe sleep deprivation. It's kind of sweet.

Chris leaves for Taiwan on Friday for 12 days. I hope I can sleep better than our friend.

TN and MD

Back from vacation (?) again. This time I went to Tennessee to visit with my family and then to DC for Ken's wedding. The TN part was nice - very relaxing to just hang out around my parents apartment and see the new house and talk with people. I went on Saturday, Aunt Sharon and Uncle Mel arrived on Sunday, Steph arrived Monday, Chris arrived Tuesday. We were pretty busy at all times! I think it must have been tiring for my mom! My dad was in good health and good spirits. Just after we left he started losing his hair from the radiation. It's funny how suddenly it happened.

My parents celebrated their 31st (?) wedding anniversary on Wednesday and on Thursday Chris and I rode up with Uncle Mel and Aunt Sharon back to DC. We stayed with them and had lunch with Grandpa and Johnny on Friday before the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner (at this really hip sushi/asian place in Arlington). Then Saturday was the wedding. Photos will show off the wedding best - it was in the Tower Club (not the Princeton Tower Club) which was beautiful and some of my friends from Princeton were there and we got to catch up, which was really fun. I was a groomsmaid in this wedding and got to have a lovely black dress (instead of the teal of the bridesmaids) so that I would match all the tuxes. I got to spend a little time with Ken's sister for the first time too and she was very fun and funny - her humor was quite highbrow though so many of us had trouble following it at times. Anyway, photos.
Here's me recessing down the aisle with my paired bridesmaid. The hyper wedding coordinator wanted us to hold hands down the aisle but we demurred. I think I look a little rabid in this photo, but Chris said he really likes it, so I'm publishing it anyway. Photo for the PAW. The lighting conditions were rather unfortunate, but it's still a cute photo.
Chris took this photo of the bouquet toss. Recently I haven't been participating in this ritual because I've caught the bouquet on many occasions and I can say with confidence that it doesn't work. I saw Ken whisper something to Kendall and then they both looked at me and then Ken came and pushed me onto the floor. Not surprisingly, the bouquet came down right beside me. It was caught by a girl who I later saw had a very young baby at the wedding. I think she needed it more than me.

Anyway, I'm also posting a link to a YouTube movie of Jim and Carson singing Hey Ya! by OutKast. Very funny to friends of theirs, but probably not worth the download time for everyone else.

My sister's magic

I believe I was still going back in time to talk about things that happened in July. Before I leave off discussing my sister's visit altogether, I need to mention her magic ways. She has some kind of magic touch with babies. She modestly declares that she doesn't do anything that anyone couldn't do, but that can't possibly be the case. I have been seeing Amelia about once a week for her entire life now. The Friday my sister was visiting we babysat for her and took her out in the stroller and walking around. (This was one of the first times she has been babysat while she was awake.) We went in a quilting store and my sister was carrying her around for awhile and then wanted to look at something closer, so handed her over to me. Amelia immediately starting fussing and reached around for my sister. Now, I understand when kids do this to their mom, but wouldn't you agree it's some kind of magic that my sister can make Amelia feel that way so quickly? It's magic I tell you. I'm trying not to be jealous.

So before my sister was visiting I was in Tennessee visiting my family. While I was in Greece my father had a seizure, was taken to the hospital, and found to have a glioma. It was removed and now he's having radiation treatment and taking one drug as chemotherapy. He seems to be feeling much better now than he was immediately after the surgery, which is good. While I was there we were mostly hanging out and running errands and seeing doctors. It was good to get to be in Tennessee and see what was happening, although it does make you feel powerless to watch someone else be sick.

On our last day in Paros I started feeling really nauseous and unhappy and just like I needed to lay down and get out of Greece. (Confusing huh? It was to me.) I didn't go out with everyone else in the motorinos because of it - I just felt for some reason like there was no way I could be happy on a motorino. At the time I attributed this to PMS (which occasionally gives me weird mood swings, but not usually and not this strong) and accumulated introversion as a result of being stuck on a boat with 9 people for 7 days. My "sickness" started at almost the exact time that my father had his seizures. Now, I've always wondered about the paranormal. I'm a scientist, so I tend not to believe it in one way, but some members of my family swear to have had paranormal experiences and actually I want to believe in it too. I've had at least one other experience that's even harder to explain. One night when I was at home for cancer treatment many years ago I woke up in the middle of the night feeling incredibly sick. I lay in bed too ill to move thinking: I wish my mom would bring me apple juice and medicine. I thought this really hard for about 5 minutes and my mom appeared in my room with apple juice and medicine. How could she have known? I wasn't moving, I didn't say anything... she just knew. That same year a friend of the family came to our house to give me Reiki therapy. This is a treatment where the therapist rests their hands on your body to supposedly balance the energy in your body. The therapist knew what was bothering me even without me telling her anything. I'd just lay there totally still and she'd know. I wish I could say she was able to make some dramatic cure, but it was still really amazing that she always knew what was wrong. And she was a good friend of the family so it was always good to have her around.

Anyway. My mom has some even more dramatic stories about psychic dreams. Of course occasionally she'll call and ask if I'm pregnant, because she dreamed I was and I always have to tell her it's just wishful thinking. Ha.