Breathe

Somewhere between the business and laziness of summer, the blog has been neglected. Since the last posted bake sale there has been another, my sister's bridal shower, horseback riding, sand volleyball, photographers, bad weather, state council retreat, work travel, abstracts, wedding bands...

Let's start with wedding bands. Rick ordered his band the other day (upper left photo in the link) and it came in yesterday. He tried it on and said it felt weird--it looked weird too! I left mine at the jewelers yesterday to get it appraised for insurance purposes and got it back today with these sweet photos; thought I would share:
While we're on the wedding topic, we're getting things squared away. We had a cake tasting scheduled for tomorrow, but Rick has started to travel for work, so we had to cancel it for now. Anyway, we were going to have some night shots taken at Gray's Lake on Sunday evening with our wedding photographers, but a number of factors including tornado sirens and funnel clouds put those on hold for now. We decided to outrun the storm--we were in Ankeny when the sirens sounded and we decided heading home would be better than staying at the restaurant. Driving through the torrential downpour was crazy!

Allyson and Chad did get their engagement photos shot, though; keep a lookout for them on the Locket's blog--I can't wait to see them!!!

Speaking of photo shoots, I found this picture on my desk this weekend while cleaning. Perhaps one of my finest portraits. I passed out and fell my sophomore year of college one morning as I was walking to the bathroom, toothbrush in hand. Happened to a kid down the hall as well, so they suspected carbon monoxide, but the doctor just told me to sit down the next time I felt faint so I wouldn't get hurt so much. Thanks for the tip. I almost bit through my bottom lip; I still have the scar. Couldn't play my trumpet for a few months and laughing kept cracking it open...

Comic relief, check. Also off my check list are a few work items. My boss just got back from presenting a poster of my research at the American College of Internal Veterinary Medicine Forum in Montreal and we have submitted an abstract for the annual American Society of Human Genetics meeting. Both of these projects are experiments I toiled over (and I'm first author on both), so I'm glad they're getting out there. There are two more abstracts currently out there with my name on them, so I'm getting a lot of exposure right now. I will be attending the ASHG meeting in October in Honolulu and already have my tickets booked (thanks, Dad)! Can't wait! Statistics is going well, about half done with the class, and I took a thesis writing class today. It's all coming to a head...

The State 4-H Council retreat was last week and although I was nervous, I think it went pretty well. I was amazed at my memorization skills as I had all 40 kids' names matched to their faces by the end of the first day (though I found I needed the face to produce the name). I also found it hilarious that about half a dozen girls were amazed with my ring and the stories about how Rick and I met and our engagement...they were so funny. I was not as authoritative as I needed to be (my girls were late to breakfast both days--I forget that real girls take time to get ready in the morning). Regardless, I had fun and I think the kids liked me well enough for a somewhat authoritative figure. I'm looking forward to working with them the next year.

Well, Rick's gone tonight in Illinois--he started travelling last week. It's lonely and nice all at once. At least he's not gone for too long...