Funny Story

At the lab, I've started working with another postdoc (not HPD, sadly) on a different project, so I've been really excited about coming to work the last few days. He's foreign, so he stumbles around his words a little bit, but mostly he's awesome and hilarious. We'll call him FPD, for foreign. And funny. Today, he had me fix slides with clear nail polish. Basically, they do this so they don't have to buy expensive fixing agents, can see the cells, and the cover slips won't be moving around the slide. Anyway, hilarity ensued:

[I am diligently fixing while HPD and FPD are talking]

FPD: I love working with girl undergrads!
(HPD makes eye contact with me, we both laugh)

HPD: Really, FPD?

FPD: Wait, oh, not like that! I just, you know, not like that! They're just so much better with the nail polish!
(HPD and I make eye contact again and keep laughing)

FPD: No! Really! They're always better at fixing the slides! Boys get nail polish all over everything, like buffoons!

HPD: (still laughing {probably at FPD's use of 'buffoons' in normal conversation}) It's okay FPD, we get it, we get it. We won't tell your wife.

I love my job.
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Game Day!

I mentioned my Trinity before, and I want to introduce you guys to another member of it. I've posted about them before, too, but my disappointment in the last season doesn't even begin to cover how much I love the Phoenix Suns.


Today is the official beginning of the 2010-2011 season! I am really excited and nervous about this season for several reasons, the main one of which is the new lineup. I got to see them practice because they had training camp at my college this year. I noticed that the game seemed a little slower, a bit off, but I ignored it because, really, I have faith that we'll get that chemistry back soon enough. And, plus I had a conversation with Head Coach Alvin gentry, Josh Childress signed my shoe, and I got to watch my hero, Steve Nash, practice, so really, I had nothing to complain about. I'm so excited for the season!!

Lakers on Friday; BEAT LA!

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Recipe: Pumpkin-licious.

It's the end of October, and Halloween is almost here, but really, this means one thing to me: Pumpkin Pie Season is upon us!! It's been a tradition in my family for years to make pumpkin pie around this season. The "season" starts a little before Halloween and goes till roughly after Thanksgiving. I loved it because we never really celebrated Thanksgiving (in the huge, all the family comes over, five hundred things to eat that took all day to make sense) at my house. So, a lot of my friends got to have a huge Thanksgiving dinner, but guess what? I got to have pumpkin pie every day for a month! Ha!


The recipe's fairly easy, since my mom wanted my brother and me to be able to help out as much as possible, and she was literally making them twice a week for a month. Also, I was never a fan of store bought pumpkin pie because it's just way too sweet for my taste, so these were perfect.

Ingredients:
1 graham cracker crust in a 9x9 pie tin (I always just buy mine.)
24 oz pureed pumpkin (Mom pureed them, I buy it in cans)
14 fl. oz. sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4-5 tbsp pumpkin spice (ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc.)

Recipe:
1. Preheat oven to 425˚F and allow crusts to bake a little. During preheating generally seems to be the perfect amount of time.
2. Mix pumpkin, eggs, and milk together in a large bowl.
3. Add spices to mix (you can always add more or less to taste).
4. Take out crusts, pour in batter, and bake at 350˚F for 30-40 minutes or till baked as per the knife test.
5. Let cool. Top with copious amounts of whip cream and devour!

Also, thanks for all the feedback on the outfit post! I'm not thinking that will be a regular feature, since my "outfits" generally consist of some combo of jeans, a t-shirt, and a cardigan, but I might occasionally try to dress up now and do them, since I think posting them makes me accountable for what I wear, haha.

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Outfit Post

One of the things I enjoy about the blogs are I read are the daily/weekly/other outfit posts. I'm inspired by other people wanting to dress well on days that I feel like wearing sweatpants to class. So, since my new dress from modcloth came, I've been wanting to do one of these posts.

Cardigan: Macy's

Shoes: Charlotte Russe


Tried different times of day.



I kind of love this dress. I mean, it has pockets. Pockets make the world go round! I was inspired to wear the leggings because a) it was freezing cold today and b) they matched the belt. Also, I had a really wonderful day and I'm almost convinced it was because of that dress.

What do you think?
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Ups and Downs

|The Absolute Value of -1| by Steve Brezenoff
I spent the day reading this book. Yes, I had class, but several things have me on edge, and when I'm on edge, I read. Escapism, for the win. Anyway, first, I woke up abysmally early today to finish a report, so I ended up leaving the house in a crazy printing/dressing frenzy in which I forgot completely to put on eyeliner. A travesty, considering my near dependence on the stuff. I also chugged two cups of coffee. Bad choice. Second, today is my first day of work at my new job, and I'm sort of nervous. Yeah, it's a second part-time job, but it's the first time I've worked anywhere I have to talk to customers, so the jitters are building. The eyeliner thing really didn't help that whole deal either, obviously. Third, I am legitimately worried about my future.

The book helped. It's a somewhat-depressing, somewhat-messed-up story about three teenagers whose lives are terrible, but then they go and screw them up more in hopes of making them better, and in the end none of them end up getting what they want. Cheery, right? Right. Very well written though, in my extremely judgmental opinion. Regardless, it gave me something to do for 5 hours and convinced me that my life could be significantly worse and that I should look on the bright side. So, here it is! Bright side: I didn't have to go to class all day and now I get to go home and put on eyeliner! Also, it rained and my feet have been dry in my boots all day! Yay!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

The weather has been awful today. It started out nice and cheery in the morning, if not a little cold. Thus, I wore my gray pea coat and new silver flats and thought all would be just fine and dandy. I come out of my first class, and what do you know? It's raining. Being from Arizona and all, I think 'not used to rain' is a huge understatement. Until college, my whole family owned one umbrella, I don't think anyone had legitimate rain jackets, and certainly nobody owned rain boots. The only rain we got was fleeting (read: downpours that last only minutes) and far apart.

So, I walked approximately thirty minutes between classes (determined to not be truant!) in the rain (because, of course, today was the one day I'd left my umbrella in another bag) and ended up cold, wet, tired, and sick. Then, I had a moment of resistance in which I decided one absence would be worth it to make a trip to the store to pick up some rain boots, and then I immediately felt way better. And drier. And warmer.


These ones, in fact. They're not Ramona, but they were cheap and cute and keep my toes extremely warm and dry, like they should.


Days like this make me miss home, though...


***

Lust List Monday: Kate Spade Book Clutch

So, I've been having a terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad couple of days because my seasonal cold has decided to come early this year. I can't stand being sick, mainly because my immune system is usually pretty good, and I can usually catch the one seasonal cold I always get before it even starts and get over it in a day or two. This one's been awful though, so I'm going to spend the day resting on the couch with I Love Lucy DVDs and hot tea. But, then as I was checking my email, I discovered these gems from Kate Spade and I felt like I had to share them. Yes, today's Lust List is one item, but trust me, it's worth it.


They have Great Expectations and others too!

I almost had an aneurysm at the sight of these. They're so cute and functional, and I would love to have one of those at my side for the night! Then I almost had another aneurysm when I looked at the price tag. Well, Lucy calls! Enjoy your days!

***

They've Got The Magic

I have three loves in life, my own personal Holy Trinity, if you will. Of those loves, though, Harry Potter is certainly the in the top spot. I've posted about exactly why that is before, but aside from the books, I am a big fan of a lot of the actors in the movies. I'm not usually crazy about the younger ones, but I must say that Emma Watson and Evanna Lynch have grown up fantastically, and that I truly consider them role models.

Miss Lynch in her first couture shoot.


{yes, sometimes, I ignore copyright stamps...but I don't intend to infringe, swear.}
I could see her playing Alice at some point very easily.


I also happen to think her nose ring and braces are kind of adorable.
Then, there's Emma. I think everybody knows about the famous (and amazing) Burberry ads, but she's done some pretty awesome other shoots too, not to mention the girl decided to attend university after all that fame, didn't turn into a shitshow, then chopped all her hair off and still looks fierce.


Could anyone else rock this outfit? Probably not.






Love how they've done her eye makeup here.


So pretty.
And I'm also in love with the fact that she did Burberry 2010 with her little brother. They're the same ages as my brother and I basically, so they remind me of us, and I think it's adorable how proudly she talks about him.

Burberry Spring/Summer 2010.


He's sort of cute, right?
Only somewhat-related note: ONE MONTH AND FOUR DAYS TILL DEATHLY HALLOWS!

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Energized!

This morning I woke up feeling terrible. My throat hurt, I had a fever, and my sinuses felt like I'd had cotton stuffed through them. So I did what any sane girl would do: called in sick to work, had cinnamon apple oatmeal and chocolate milk for lunch, and popped two Benadryl (in that order). Then, in about an hour, I started feeling crazy better; so much better, in fact that it spurred an infamous Mugdha-cleaning-spree! This has been known to happen on occasion where I'll be feeling really low on energy and all of a sudden something triggers tornado-disinfecting mode. Lauren, my roommate since freshman year, has witnessed this several times, so she was prepared (read: she ignored me and steered clear), but I think my poor new apartmates were torn between helping/encouraging and just staying the hell out of my way, haha. Now, I can proudly say that all my boxes are unpacked, 4 loads of laundry are done, my dresser,closet and jewelry are organized, the printer is set up, and the kitchen and both the bathrooms have been properly cleaned and sanitized. Hooray! Don't mind the fact that I have a midterm tomorrow, don't mind at all...

Spreading the Love

As I'm sure many of you (especially those in the States) have heard, there have been some extremely upsetting events in the news lately concerning anti-gay bullying and several subsequent suicides. Now, I'm not one to do much sociopolitical musing, because I feel like that can get overly personal, but I am sort of a news junkie and I certainly have opinions on the material I read. The suicide of Tyler Clementi has brought to the forefront a string of other recent cases of anti-gay bullying and suicides in schools. Bearing that in mind, today, I'm participating in National Coming Out Day as a straight ally of the LGBT community.

National Coming Out Day Logo
I strongly feel that there is no excuse, religious or otherwise, for tolerating the abuse of students by their peers for their chosen lifestyle. And what's even more frustrating is the attempt to politicize a situation that is fundamentally a human rights issue; of life and liberty. National Coming Out Day hasn't just been preceded this year by the bullying events, but also by the incredibly insensitive comments made by gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino. It is one thing to be opposed to the legal and religious aspects of gay marriage, but it is completely another to be intolerant of the lifestyle and cruel to the people. This year's NCOD also falls the day after Belgrade's gay pride parade in which police ended up intervening to stop attacks by anti-gay protestors of the march. I'm glad to hear that Serbian, and other international, officials have condemned the violent actions, but it's sad to hear that much of the problem is grassroots. I'm no hippie (not that there's anything wrong with being a hippie), but it's sad to see such hatred amongst people. I always think: Would you do that to your neighbor, your kids, or your best friend? Because if not, no stranger deserves it either. They're somebody's neighbors, kids, and best friends too.

Sorry this post is long and kind of heavy, but it is important to me to show my support for some of my good friends as well as those that I don't know. Thanks for reading!

Adventures in Stumbling

I meant to post this last night, but then me and the lovely roomies (we really need a new socially acceptable abbreviation for that) decided to have a night in and watch Coyote Ugly and eat junk food. And may I say that Adam Garcia was totally adorable in that movie:

Right?
So, let me admit that I'm a little addicted to StumbleUpon. For those that have no idea, it basically generates random websites for you to see based on your interests. Google it. It'll increase your internet use by 60%, I guarantee it. Today (well, yesterday), I've been stumbling photos, and I thought I'd share some of the cute ones.


Perfect for a Halloween party!


When I was little, I always wanted a dog. Now, I really want a cat.


Christmas crack, more or less.


I love modeling photos, but since my America's Next Top Model days, the first thing I always check is to see if their eyes are fierce or match their expression.


Strongly reminded of the Vanishing Glass scene from Sorcerer's Stone.


Strongly reminded of Howl's Moving Castle


I love well done Droste effect pictures.


Amazing hair/dress/earring combo. In fact, check the whole photoshoot.

And last, but my personal favorite:

These awesome Get Back In Your Book photos.

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Under the Weather

The gloomy weather has me feeling a little gloomy as well. I'm 100% not used to rain (having lived in Phoenix most of my life), and as such, totally unprepared for it no matter how much I try. Thus, the kind of all-day drizzle that's been going on has me feeling damp, miserable, and ready to curl up in front of a fire with a good book and some peppermint hot chocolate. In fact, it would be nice to just completely ignore the fact that I have approximately 400 pages of assigned reading and two lab reports due soon and just sit around and welcome the fall with some of these treats and homemade pumpkin pie!

Fall colored leaves, crunchy and perfect!


Some red rainboots a la Miss Ramona Quimby, one of my favorites growing up.


Peacoats (and scarves) galore! Like this one from Juicy.


And a nice, fluffy, warm comforter to lose yourself in. Mmm.

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Lust List Monday: If You Liked It...

...Then you shoulda put a ring on it.


Look at that detail! And it's turquoise!


This awesome Steampunk flower ring.


Originally, I thought crown rings were tacky, but this one's growing on me.


Cool takes on the serpentine ring trend!


How pretty, right?!


And lastly, who could go wrong with a classic and elegant Tiffany selection!

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