Right Here, Right Now

I’m working from home today.  This is what’s going on around me:

 

Wordless Wednesday: You weren’t using this, were you?

 

I guess she’s feeling better?

According to the peeps in Arkansas, Gram is doing much better.  And judging by the pictures, she is back to her goofball self, with my cousin Brock and her new doggie Molly.

 

Home Again

You might think that this blog has been silent because my thesis defense is a week from Thursday, but you’d be wrong. Actually, I’ve been visiting family in Arkansas for the last few days, and although I lugged my laptop all the way there, I did not have a chance to turn it on once! It was a busy busy busy trip.

I did not take any pictures, but way too many were taken of me; the only ones that have landed in my inbox so far (hint hint, family members) are some that my sister took of me and my new nephew Dylan:
I was very happy to meet Dylan and found him incredibly cute, but being around him and other people kinda freaked me out.  Firstly, a lot of people, particularly women in my family, go completely crazy when he is around.  They become completely different people, speaking a different language and thinking that sifting through piles of used baby clothes is amongst the most exciting things one could do with an afternoon.

The other weird Dylan-related thing that happened was that all of a sudden, the question on everybody’s lips was “when are you going to have a baby, Laura?”  I would have thought that Dylan’s entry into the world would have taken the pressure off of me, but it seems to have been amped it up a hundred-fold.  My mother casually mentioned that if I were to have a baby, she’d come and visit me four times a year, and then seemed astonished when I accused her of pressuring me.

Anyway, other than that weirdness, it was a good trip.  My dad celebrated his 60th birthday with class, not having the nervous breakdown that I will surely have when I turn 30 later this year.  Also, I got to see lots and lots of family members, ate lots of good food and kept up my running regime every day.  Now it’s time to get back to work!

 

A Peaceful Thanksgiving

It was a quiet but nice thanksgiving here at Casa Fields.  A few months ago, my advisor said “you should at least write a paper draft before you graduate.”  Two weeks ago, we got the go-ahead to start writing the paper that will present the details of my thesis research to the rest of the world.  And two days ago, I sent the paper draft to my advisor.  It was a frenzied two weeks of non-stop writing, and I’m grateful that it is done, at least for the moment.  Here are some other things I am grateful for:

Update: For the people curious about the food above: cranberry sauce and gravy on the left, then stuffing, green beans and tofurkey.  I love, love, love tofurkey.  It is great for thanksgiving, and the tofurkey leftover sandwiches are even better.  The green beans are from a recipe that Howard and I both heard on NPR during our separate drives home from work last week: Molly Katzen’s “dramatically seared green beans”.  Basically they are cooked on very high heat for two minutes, then tossed with salt, garlic and chile, and they were very very yummy.  In fact, everything was very very yummy.

 

Can I Join You?

I meant to post this as a “Wordless Wednesday,” but two Wednesdays have come and gone with me not getting around to it, so here you go — a kinda wordless Friday:

 

I’m an Aunt!

My parents got their first grandchild last Wednesday, and his name is Dylan Mathew Fields.  He is the son of my little brother, Jonathan, and his partner, Hillary.  I won’t be able to meet the little guy until next year, but pictures have been flooding into my inbox.  My favorites are these two of my grandmother meeting her 4th great-grandchild:

Aren’t they cute?  Gram is never happier than when there is a new baby around.

There are also some good pictures of Dylan’s mom, Hillary. I’m not going to post them, because it just seems impolite to force a girl that just had a baby to have her picture displayed on the internet, even though she does look beautiful.  In one picture, she’s wearing a shirt that says “Your village called.  Their idiot is missing.”  I think she’s gonna be a good mom

 

My Homies

Look how well everybody is getting along:

It’s still not always so rosy, and I think Julius might be trying to stare Oliver to death in that top picture, but things are definitely improving.

Oliver is going to his first doggie playtime class tomorrow, which seems like it’s going to be basically the same as going to the dog park, but we have to pay for it and there will be a dog behaviorist there.  But maybe it will be interesting.

In other news, this week was another hellish week that involved staying up until the wee hours of the morning working, but I’m taking the weekend off — the first time in recent memory I’ve had two whole days off work.  Yeah me!  So far, it has involved a lot of laziness, a little carving and baking of pumpkins and going out to see “Burn After Reading” and eat Korean food.  I’m also trying very hard not to worry about what I’m going to do with myself after I graduate, but it’s not really working.

 

Updates From LauraLand

• I successfully finished my first 5K this past Saturday!  It started raining like mad right after we finished, so I left before they posted the times, and they aren’t online yet, but I’m confident that we very easily beat our wussy goal of 35 minutes.
• This is what I made the night before, and had for breakfast before the race:

• It is filled with the apples I picked a few weeks ago, and tasted even better than it looks!

• The issues I have been having with my data analysis have mostly been resolved, so I’m working very hard to finish up my thesis.  It is possible that come January you’ll have both a President Obama and a Dr. LauraBanana.  Keep your fingers crossed!
• Thesis page count: 128!

 

Yogurt Fiend

I am a bad, bad pet owner.

Let me say, in my defense, that this is not the first time the cat has done this — it happens basically every time I eat yogurt.  The first several instances, I did the right thing and immediately went to my cat’s aid.  But there are just so many times I can watch this and not want to photograph the silliness.  Also, Julius can get himself free if he tries, so he’s not in danger.  This particular case was funny because he got confused by the flash:

I love how he looks angry at the cup, as if it’s the cup’s fault that he gets his head stuck in a yogurt container several times a week.  And the yogurt on the nose is a nice touch.