Mom's in town!

In a few hours I'm driving to the airport to pick up my Mom. I'm so excited! Tomorrow we're going skiing in the morning and afternoon. In the evening, we're going with a bunch of Theta Chi guys and their dates to the Colorado Symphony. They're performing a Brahms Requiem with the Colorado Symphony Chorus so it should be really good. Then on Sunday we're going shopping and doing fun stuff here in town. That night we're going out for sushi for dinner. That evening there's a wine and cheese welcome party for the conference my mom is attending. On Monday she'll be at the conference and I'll be at school/work all day. Daniel is picking my mom up around 4:30 and then they're coming to see the lab and pick me up. That night we might go to a bar downtown called Sing Sing. It's a "dueling piano" bar where they play songs that people request and make you come up on stage and do silly things. I've heard it's really fun. I have a very busy weekend ahead of me!

Last night I saw Daniel perform with Eric Whitacre. He played "October" which is one of my very favorite Eric Whitacre pieces. I didn't see much of it because I had to go to bells rehearsal, but Daniel said the crowd went absolutely crazy when he walked out on stage. In the wind ensemble/choral world, he is quite a celebrity. I felt really lucky to get to watch him conduct in person. His music is incredibly moving and fun to perform.

PA School

Tonight I spent some more time figuring out my schedule for next quarter. I went over my major requirements and now I have a completely different schedule, one that works much better with Daniel's schedule and work. And that led me to thinking about Nursing school prerequisites (because I'm taking a bunch of those right now). As I think more about Nursing school, it just doesn't seem to work. After 4 long years of college, I would spend one more year (in the accelerated program- if I get in) and I would still just be a registered nurse. If I had just gone to school to become a nurse from the beginning, it would only take me 2 years to become an RN. And it's not what I want. I ultimately would have to work for a few years and go back for another 2 years to become a Nurse Practitioner. So though I would be done with school quicker in the short term, I'd have to go back later.

So that brings me back to looking at PA (Physician's Assistant) schools. I looked at CU Denver's program. I have all the prerequisites done and unlike nursing school they don't expect you to have any healthcare experience at all. At CU Denver it's a 3 year program, 3 semesters (summer, fall, spring) with clinical rotations and normal seminar-style classes. They got 400 applications for 40 spots last year. Average GPA is 3.6. My GPA is 3.5 right now. Yikes. And the program starts June 6. DU doesn't end until 2 weeks later. Which means I'd have to ask for special permission to start before I've officially graduated, or else wait almost an entire year to start the three year program. And the cost- it would be about $13,000 a year. I'm not sure if my parents/grandparents would pay for PA school, especially if we're married by then.

The other option is Red Rocks Community College. Their program is one whole year of classes, and one whole year of clinical rotation. It's about 30 minutes from our house, a little further than CU Denver. They accept only 30 students, but the average GPA was only 3.1 so it seems it would be easier to get into. It's slightly more expensive per credit hour, but less credits overall. They have a statement on the website that you must accept your clinical rotation no matter where it is- and that it almost certainly will be outside the Denver metro area. I don't really understand what that means. Do they set up housing for you somewhere else? It doesn't really make sense to me. But if it's easier to get into, and shorter, it may be better. And the program starts in August which means I could start just a few months after I graduate in 2011. With both programs, we would have to squeeze the wedding during my winter break and Daniel's which would be only about 2 weeks, and it would be over Christmas. No matter what, I am committed to finishing school. If it absolutely has to, the wedding can wait. Daniel and I both agree that finishing college is our best chance to have the kind of life we want- with financial stability and a solid future for our children.

This is complicated. I really want to work with patients. I want to be a healthcare provider. I'm fascinated with the human body and how it works. I have always loved going to the doctor because I want to ask a million questions. It seems I'll have to make some difficult decisions- and soon! If I want to start as soon as I graduate, that means applying by this September. That is scary.

Being Engaged

Today at work, my co-workers noticed my engagement ring for the first time (normally I'm wearing gloves all the time so they don't see the ring). One of my co-workers, Jen, saw it and asked when we're getting married. I immediately said "a LONG time from now- after we graduate." I went on to explain that we're young, and in no hurry, so we're waiting a little bit to get married. As I related this story to Daniel later that day, he asked why I didn't just say December of next year. I realized that I was purposely trying to explain that we're waiting a while because we're so young. As I've gotten to know my co-workers better, and we've had time to talk and get to know each other, I have been avoiding the word "fiance." It feels so weird to say it, and I'm always afraid people are going to judge me. I assume that people are thinking I'm too young, I'm acting impulsively, etc. This is completely a personal thing. Nobody has ever been that judgmental (at least out loud) when I've mentioned that I'm engaged. I don't know what my problem is with it. I'm not embarrassed exactly, but it's more like I don't want to have to explain. Every time it comes up that I'm engaged, I immediately follow it with an explanation that we've been together for 7 years, we're waiting until we graduate college, we're still too young, and a million other apologetic explanations. Why do I have to explain my relationship to other people? I have no idea! My co-workers today were totally supportive. Jen even said, you don't have to explain to me I'm not judging you at all. She said that she doesn't know anything about our relationship and she doesn't have the right to decide if we are ready to get married. That made me feel better, but the fact is that it's not other people that make me feel judged. It's myself. I've always felt the need to get complete strangers' approval. I think this may be something to work on. And I can start by not hesitating to tell people I'm engaged.

On an entirely different subject, Daniel and I are sharing my computer for the next week. Last night Daniel slipped on some fresh ice and landed flat on his back. With his backpack on. With his computer in his backpack. The screen is completely distorted with all these weird colors, so he sent it to get it fixed. Luckily it was still under warranty. And Daniel was also carrying his tuba when he fell so he's just glad his tuba wasn't damaged at all.

Today I got home from work early and completely cleaned the house. I swept and mopped the floors, took out the garbage, sanitized the kitchen counters and kitchen table, cleaned the stovetop, and even took out the shelves in the refrigerator and washed them in the sink. And I dusted. I want the house to be super clean when my Mom comes one week from tonight! Yay!

White Valentine's Day

I woke up this morning to a beautiful blanket of white snow. It's melting fast, but it was nice while it lasted. I've had a wonderful relaxing weekend. Daniel and I have been watching the Olympics and wedding planning. Today we went to a nice casual lunch at Maggiano's. We haven't been there in a really long time and it's one of my favorite places to eat. We were planning on cooking a nice dinner at home, but since Daniel's parents sent us money we thought we could go out for lunch. My parents also sent us a gift card to Cheesecake Factory! We'll save that for another time.

Lately Daniel has been incredible. I was feeling quite neglected for a while. He had been so busy with school and working like 5 jobs and being President of Theta Chi. It felt like he worked all day and then came home and worked on his computer until midnight. The only time we spent together was eating dinner, and we didn't even go to bed together because he was up so late working. Luckily, he happens to be taking a class this quarter called "Why we Fall in Love" and he has learned a lot. His professor gives them practical tips on how to improve their relationships. I don't know what specifically he's learned, but whatever it is, I like it! He has given me much more attention in the past two weeks than he did in the previous 6 weeks combined. He has been more affectionate which is something that's hard for him. I think it's a guy thing. He doesn't feel the need to tell me "I love you" or kiss me before bed. But he knows that I like it, and now he's really making an effort to do things like that.

One day this week I was really stressed out because I had a test the next day and I didn't feel prepared at all. I felt like I needed to spend all night studying but I had a ton of other stuff to do including cook dinner. To be honest, I was kind of mean to Daniel. I was upset because he was like two minutes late meeting at the car which made me more stressed out because that was time that I could have been studying. Instead of being mean back, he was calm and nice to me. He asked me how my day was and told me that he would take care of dinner so I could study. He told me that I was going to do great on my test. It made me feel so much better.

So I have been really happy lately. I guess that's nothing new. I've been happy all quarter, well since as far back as I can remember really. My life is just really awesome right now. But even better now because Daniel is spending more time with me. He even told his fraternity that they're not allowed to call during dinner or after 11pm. Just for me :-)

Genetics midterm

I got a 94% (!!!!!!!) on my Genetics midterm from Monday. It's my blog, so I get to brag all I want!!! The average was a 79% so I got a full 15% higher. Wow. I haven't gotten a 94% on a test in ages, let alone in a SCIENCE class, let alone a BIOLOGY class!! I have to celebrate.

Chocolate ice cream, I have so deserved it.

Wedding Planning

Daniel and I are meeting with the wedding advisor for DU in a couple weeks. Which means that we are really going to start wedding planning now. We have a date and a location which is a good start. I have so many ideas in my head, but I don't know where to go from there. It's hard to figure out what's within our budget. I'm sure it will become clear as time goes on. It's so exciting that the wedding is less than 2 years away. Before, it seemed so far away it wasn't even worth thinking about. But 2 years isn't that long. People buy their wedding dress 18 months ahead of time. Which means I can start looking this summer. I'm so excited to look in Chicago. I don't know any good bridal salons in Phoenix or Denver, but I know there will be fantastic places in Chicago. And my sister will be able to go with me! It's going to be great. The big thing Daniel and I have been talking about lately is the color. It's going to be a winter wedding, so I think shades of blue and silver would be really nice. Maybe Navy blue, or maybe regular blue. But Daniel really likes forest green. I think it could come out looking a little too Christmasy. Another point of discussion- the ring bearer. Daniel wants Jackson to do it. I think that is so tacky! I love Jackson, but I do not want a dog in our wedding. I think Tyler would be a perfect ring bearer, especially since Beth is going to be in the wedding anyways. I guess it's a little early to worry about that, but I know for sure I DO NOT want Jackson to be the ring bearer.

Snow

It's been snowing for about 28 hours straight. It's been weeks since we've had any snow, so I'm loving it. It's beautiful. The first 12 hours or so it was coming down slow enough that the roads stayed mostly clear. But now it's snowing pretty hard and overnight it accumulated so the roads were fairly bad this morning. This morning was the first time Daniel and I were actually prepared! We got up early and went out to our car to brush the snow off and scrape the ice off. We left early enough that despite the icy roads and slow drivers, we still got to class in time. And then I found out my class was cancelled. My professor couldn't get here in time. But that's okay, I used the extra time to study for my midterm later this morning.

I think my absolute favorite thing about the snow is when the sun goes down and it is perpetual twilight. Nobody talks about this, but when it's snowing, the whole sky glows all night long. It never really gets dark. I have no idea why that happens, but it's beautiful. This is exactly the kind of weather I want for our wedding. Light snow, a couple inches on the ground. Nothing crazy to the point that people won't be able to travel, but a good covering on the ground and big fluffy cotton ball snowflakes falling. It's magical :-)

Long week

Everyone I've talked to has said that this was a long week. It seemed to go by so slow and each of my classes seemed extra boring this week. I almost couldn't handle it. Maybe that's because this is the first week I've actually attended every chemistry class. I'm very proud of myself :-)

Daniel and I finally got to the DMV and now we are Colorado residents in every sense. We finally got our Colorado license plate. And interestingly, Colorado requires a plate on the back and the front. We had no way to attach it to the front so we had to drill holes into our car. That made me a little nervous, but we didn't have much of a choice.

I was very busy at work yesterday. I didn't have one minute to relax except for my 20 minute lunch. I also got paid! That made me happy. I'm getting to know the other people at work and they are all so nice to hang out with. It makes work really pleasant. And a lot of lab work is somewhat repetitive so once you get the hang of it, you can talk and the time goes by a lot faster. I've also realized that I definitely need to bring my iPod. It is so much better doing tedious work while you're listening to music. I had a little scare where I thought I really screwed something up. We clip the tails of newborn mice so that we can genotype them. Whoever clipped the tails put them in the wrong kind of tube. They don't fit in the machine. So I had to take probably close to 200 tubes and label all new tubes and using forceps transfer the little piece of tail from one tube to the other. It only took me a couple hours, and I didn't mind. But there was one point at which I had a tail piece in BOTH 91 tubes. There can only be one mouse 91 tail clipping. So I was in trouble. I just put one piece back in the old 91 tube and threw it away. A few minutes later, I discovered that 97 was missing. Oops. I put 91 in 97 and pulled 91 out of the garbage. That was the real 91. And immediately after that, a janitor came to take out the garbage. Close call.

My mom is coming to Denver in less than 3 weeks! I'm so excited. I want to show her the lab and our house and everything in Denver. Well, maybe not everything.

All my classes are still going well, I got As and Bs on every single midterm. I haven't done that since freshman year! I hope I can keep it up. We're over halfway through the quarter, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Produce Co-op

Skip to the next paragraph if you're squeamish or don't like animal testing. So today I got to work, and they handed me a dead mouse. My job was to cut off the legs above the femur and peel away all the flesh and muscle so that just the bone was remaining. Easier said than done. The bones were so tiny you had to be really careful not to snap them right in half. And the flesh is slimy so it's hard to pull it off with forceps and scissors. But I did it! Then we took 7 mice, 4 bones per mouse, under the hood and extracted the bone marrow. This means cutting off both knobby ends and sticking a tiny syringe inside and flushing out the marrow with liquid media. It took 2 hours to do all 7 mice. I had my very own mouse to work on. They gave me a strain that they weren't actually doing any experiments on so I could practice without worrying. I did so well that they let me help with the other 6 mice. It was so exciting!

Okay, no more mice. Daniel and I signed up for a produce co-op today. It's called door to door organics. It's in many states around the country, including Colorado. They deliver the food right to your door. They have bitty, small, medium, and large boxes. You can get just vegetables, just fruit, or a mixture. And it's all organic and local. I think they have a deal with Whole Foods or something like that. Anyways, we ordered the Bitty vegetable box for $22.66 plus $5.00 for shipping. It comes with carrots with tops, cucumbers, romaine lettuce, celery hearts, broccolini, beets, squash, collared greens, and 3 lb. of yams. We switched out the beets for oranges and the collared greens for braeburn apples. And you can add more food for a per item cost. We added lemons for .25 each and oranges for .50 each. We get a box every Wednesday, and you can switch up to three items out and add as much as you want. You can even add organic meat,

cereals, condiments, and other groceries. You can also cancel a shipment if you don't want one, or change which box you get from week to week. We're excited to see how it turns out! It may end up being too expensive, but we'll see how much food actually comes in it. I'm trying to eat more veggies and organic and local is even better!