Time Sure Flies When You're Having Fun

Time really does fly when you're busy! I'm not doing so well at keeping this blog updated. I've been busy and outside of a few awesome events, I live a boringly great life. That being said, I can't believe we're almost two months into 2015 already. It seems like so much has happened in the past several months.

I started dating someone. That's been fun.

Mom came out to visit for Thanksgiving!

I passed candidacy which was one of the most terrible and rewarding thing I've done in my academic career so far. That's including my Master's defense. But Woo! I passed!

Christmas and New Years has come and gone.

I had to have my tonsils removed as a 28 year old. That is probably one of the worst things I've ever had done.

I've been snowed in or wind chilled in several times. Thank you, Chicago winter.

The nephews came to visit for Valentine's Day!

I finally got to meet Brandon Sanderson and he signed all of my books!

I'm sure a lot more has happened, but it seems like I've had a lot of quiet time since Christmas. Some of that is thanks to me being perpetually sick for most of the month of January and having my tonsils removed the first week of February. Let's just say I've had enough quiet time that I've been able to easily keep up on my required reading for school/work as well as read 30 books for pleasure.

Other than the being sick part, it's been nice. Now that I'm done with candidacy, I get to be a normal person when I get off work and I have this wonderful thing known as free time. Hence all of the reading. It helps balance out the science and it keeps me sane. Books complete me in a way that TV and movies will never be able to. Which is good because I've learned that I've gotten terrible at keeping up with tv shows and movies lately. And oddly enough, I'm okay with that. Bring on all the books!

I'm still book blogging and it has been amazing! I've read SO many great books and have met so many awesome people to talk books with. Outside of blogging, I joined a book club that some of the post docs go to. It's been fun and has gotten me to read several books that I probably wouldn't have picked up on my own.

As I said, I live a rather boring life, but I love it! I love the science and the books and just everything about it. I love living in the Chicago area and I need to take more advantage of that outside of taking everyone who comes to visit out for deep dish pizza.

I'm going to try harder to keep this blog updated. My goal is to post at least once a week. Some weeks will be easier than others. There's a lot of stuff going on this year. I'm already lined up to go to several conferences and apparently this year is my ten year high school reunion. I can't believe it's been ten years! Honestly, I don't think I'm going to make it to the actual reunion because I'm pretty sure I have a conference that same weekend, but it's an important milestone nonetheless.

So while I hope that I have fun things to share about life, there will be weeks where the most exciting thing is a new author or band I discovered or how I've finally perfected cooking a certain food. I'm going to write about things that are of interest to me. Blogging is as close to journaling as I'm ever going to get and I'm okay with that. So here's to my goal to keep up with it. This is going to be fun.

Relocations Are Hard

Relocating is difficult. You pack up everything you own (which is always more than you thought you had) and you move somewhere where you don't know where things are and you don't know anybody. 

Leaving Maryland was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I came to love the area and made lots of awesome friends. Unfortunately, life is about changes and this newest change is going to be awesome career wise. Not to mention the knowledge I'm gaining working at Argonne. 

I have now officially relocated to a small Chicago suburb named Lisle and I'm loving it so far. Argonne is super awesome, in case you were wondering! Guys! Food is super cheap in the Midwest! My first grocery bill made me cry tears of joy. I'm also loving my new apartment even though it is considerably smaller than my last one.

So as is the tradition with every new apartment, I'm going to post pictures so you can share in the amazingness too. That and several people have made several inquiries about when I was going to stop neglecting my blog. Matt and Grandma, I'm looking at you.

So remember when I said you don't realize how much stuff you own until you have to pack it up and move it? That seems to be my experience every time I move except this time was so much worse since owning furniture compounds the issue.

See. I own a lot of stuff. Good thing I love all of my crap. A huge thanks goes out to Mom and Ryan for helping me unload the moving truck. Mom and I are pretty sure that Ryan unloaded more than 50% of the truck by himself since he could take two boxes at a time and still be able to see over the top of them.

Now comes the fun part where you see a huge pile of boxes transform into a habitable living space.

Quite the transformation, right?

I'll be honest, I'm super proud about the current decor of my living room.

Is it sad that 65% of the boxes were books and movies? I REGRET NOTHING!

Apparently, there is a rogue picture frame without a real picture in it. I'll have to fix that.

The kitchen is super small like my last one. At least, I know how to deal with this, right? Right?

I'm so proud that I put those shelves up by myself.

The bathroom is super nice even though it could use more counter space and power outlets.

My bedroom! And the thrice-blasted curtains that took forever to hang and resulted in several bruises from falling off the step stool during the hanging process.

And what's a bedroom without a bookshelf? I know. I have a book problem. As I said before, I REGRET NOTHING!

My awesome balcony deck with my newest purchase...

A new grill!!!! This has oddly become a must have item for me and I use it all the time.

Well, there you have it. My new place in pictures. Have I mentioned that I'm not moving again until I'm forced to? Well, I'm not. Here's to several happy years of living in one spot and to this newest life adventure!

I PASSED THE LITERATURE SEMINAR!!!

This semester will go down in the record books as one of the hardest of my college career so far. Nothing instills as much fear into the heart of a first year PhD student as the first step to candidacy such as your second year seminar that you're doing as a first year:

Terrifying, right? Well, terror was the main emotion that I was feeling when a classmate sent me the screenshot.
To enter into candidacy at my school, we have to do three things:
1. Pass all of your classes
2. Pass your literature seminar
3. Pass the oral defense of your dissertation research plan.
Well, as of last Friday, I am done with a third of the criteria to enter into candidacy. If you ask any of my classmates, I've been a mess for the past month getting ready for this thing. So amidst pictures of supernovae, a couple of public speaking flubs, and one unanswerable question, I completed and passed my literature seminar. Huzzah!
Unfortunately, I have to get through the next ten days to know if I have passed all of my classes. Let's hope that my nuclear chemistry grade is high enough to offset the outcome of the second half of quantum mechanics. I'm planning on updating my blog as soon as classes are over, but until then, enjoy a picture of a lovely Type II supernova.

Oh, and one more awesome piece of news. My funding survived the budget cuts so Chicago is still a go! I make the official move at the end of July!

Is It Really 2013?

Ummm... Where did 2012 go?

For me, it was one heck of a year. I graduated with my master's degree! I started my second round of grad school (That PhD will be mine!). I finally made my first step to being a grown up and got my own apartment with no roommates and my own furniture! I survived Quantum Mechanics. But perhaps the most exciting was my family sending out our first missionary which is even more awesome since I have only sisters! Not to mention the fact that all my siblings and I are endowed and were able to go to the temple together! Go Courtney for representing our family in the mission field!

In regards to last year's resolutions, I unfortunately only accomplished 2 of my goals for 2012 but I'm very proud of both of them (Look at how many books I read last year!). Although, I was close to completing three. Somehow the month of October vanished quickly and combine that with a hurricane, my streak of attending the temple at least once a month was wrecked. I had a good 30 month streak though and that is nothing to be ashamed of.

As it is now 2013, it is time for this year's resolutions.

1. I'm going to read 52 books this year. I've been in grad school long enough to know that you need to do something that keeps you sane and for me that thing is reading.

2. I'm going to go to the temple at least once a month this year. I hope I don't mess this one up again. Although it will get interesting this summer when I move to Chicago and the temple is further away.

3. My sisters and I are competing with each other to get healthy. This includes eating healthier and losing weight. The current challenge is to lose 30 lbs by May. I am pitifully behind already although I am down 5 lbs!

4. I know I already made a resolution to read books but I'm going to make a specific one. I am going to re-read Les Miserables this year. All 1496 pages. That's only 29 pages a week. I loved this book when I read it the first time and I have read it a couple of times since then. This year looks to be a great year to re-read it since I just watched the movie. Heck, I might finally go see the musical.

5. And last but not least, it is my goal to try something new each month of this year. I'm hoping that this will not only broaden my horizons but help me cope with the stress that is going to come from things like taking quantum mechanics 2, moving to Chicago, presenting at my first Gordon conference, and hopefully passing the first half of my candidacy exam this semester! 

Let's hope this year is as good or better than this last one!

Fight Evil Read Books or I MET JOHN GREEN IN REAL LIFE!!!

Whoops! I have kind of neglected the blog lately. My bad. Grad school has taken over my life again. Actually, let me rephrase that. Quantum mechanics has taken over my life. Don't worry. I'm still enjoying it immensely!
So I was able to go to the National Book Festival in DC for the first time since I moved here! It was so awesome! There was books and awesomeness everywhere! And I was able to wear my most favorite shirt ever! Fight Evil Read Books!

I finally made it to The National Book Festival!!!

I'm so glad that I went this year! I was able to meet John Green who is an author of contemporary young adult novels! I've actually only read two of his books but I am a faithful follower of the vlog he does with his brother Hank on Youtube. Yes. I am a nerdfighter. :)

John Green at the Q&A session.

If you are not familiar with the term nerdfighter, it is the online community that has sprouted up around the VlogBrothers channel. They do these really awesome things like support cancer charities like This Star Will Not Go Out and by donating money on Kiva to help people in 3rd world countries start businesses. All in the name of decreasing world suck and not forgetting to be awesome.  Nerdfighters are also fans from almost every fandom but specifically Harry Potter, literature, science, and video games.
Speaking of nerdfighters, I stood in line with 1800 of them to have John Green sign my book! 1800 was the count before they started turning people away! Holy cow, right? Everyone in line for John Green were super nice and courteous. It was awesome to look around and see people reading while they were waiting in line. Not to mention they all have an awesome sense of style. You should have seen all of the nerd shirts people were wearing! I now have a list a mile long of nerd shirts I want to buy!
It was so cool being among people who share the same love of books that I have. My boss made me admit the other day that if I wasn't in the sciences I probably would have been a librarian or a serious book blogger. Did you know you can make money blogging about books? Can you say dream job number 4? But back to John Green.
I wasn't the only one excited to see him. Nella was so excited she almost started hyperventilating. Don't believe me? Bam! Photographic evidence.

Do you think she is excited?

Nella and I were joined by our friends Faith and Lindsay. It made it quite an enjoyable experience. I tried to read from my copy of The Fault In Our Stars but I was too excited. The Fault In Our Stars is John Green's latest book about a couple of teenagers who have cancer. I think everyone should read it! Just be warned, John Green writes books that will make you love them at the same time the plot is ripping your heart out. The Fault In Our Stars made me cry! Books don't make me cry. That should tell you something.
I would like to tell you that we waited in line for other authors but it was pretty much John Green for us. Although there were other authors I wanted to see. I wanted to meet Lois Lowry who wrote The Giver but her book signing was at the same time as John Green's. I also wanted to meet Christopher Paolini (Eragon) but he was scheduled for Sunday while I was in church.
Let me tell you about the rest of the day with pictures! Actually, there is not much to tell besides we sat in line and got our books signed.

Despite the large amount of people, we only had to wait in line for an hour and a half to get our books signed.

This is our group in front of the sign that indicated we were in the line for John Green.

Here's a close up of the John Green sign.

We're getting closer! I really like this picture because you can see the barely suppressed excitement. We're like a bunch of kids at Christmas. Hard to believe that we all are in the age range of 23-25.

John Green signing my book!!! He said he liked my shirt! :)

Operation Book Signing was a success!!! All of us with our newly signed books!

My signed copy of TFIOS! It has taken up permanent residence on my coffee table to display the awesomeness.

John Green's signature J scribble. I also got a DFTBA! Actually, only Nella and I got DFTBAs in our books. We deduced that we probably got them because we were wearing nerd shirts which is a good indicator that we are nerdfighters. Oh for those who don't know, DFTBA is a nerdfighter motto that means Don't Forget to be Awesome.

And something just as cool as getting my book signed happened. I made it into the intro of a Vlogbrothers video!!!

Okay, I can't point out where I am specifically but I'm in there! Somewhere. Oh and that's really how the squirrels are on the National Mall.
Overall, it was a great day! It was so nice to take a break from the worries of grad school and chill out with some awesome books and even more awesome people!

I Have An Office!!!

I know I've been updating my blog a lot lately! I'm about caught up I promise! I started working in a lab here at College Park. I love it but it is super hard! I'm having to switch gears from a biology mindset to a physics mindset. It has been a while since I took physical chemistry and even longer since I took physics. So I get to use this summer to get a handle on nuclear physics/chemistry since I got plopped in the middle of an astrophysics project. I even have my own project which will start soon and my clearance has gone through for both the reactors at NIST and Argonne!!! The exotic beam summer school at Argonne is in about a month! And I get to visit Idaho right before the summer school. I get to go to my really good friend Robert's wedding and I get to go through the temple with my little sister Corki! Oh, right! Corki got her mission call this last week! She's going to the Jackson, Mississippi mission! I'm so excited for her! But the most awesome thing about my new job is my new office. It's huge compared to my old office. It also has a pretty cool computer set up.

Isn't it super cool? Speaking of cool, I'm very lucky to have my own a/c unit in my office. The chem building at Maryland is old so it doesn't have a very good cooling system.

My chair swivels and reclines! It's a grad student's dream chair!

I have an extra table and an isotopes chart!

Pretty sweet computer set up, right? I'm starting to get the hang of using the mac for data analysis but I feel better having my laptop with me when I can't figure out how to do something on the mac.

My awesome Star Wars lunch box makes me happy! Besides the tin lunch box keeps my sandwich from being smashed!

This is the door to the lab suite my professor has.

The funniest thing is that it is located in the stairwell. My office is in a stairwell.

I'm loving my new school, professor, and office! I can't wait for the summer school at Argonne to start! And this fall is going to be epic and full of quantum mechanics and nuclear chemistry!

I'm Officially An Adult. I Own Furniture!

I've always associated adults with owning furniture. And not just a bed or a chair; I mean owning enough furniture to make an apartment or a house liveable. Well, according to my definition I'm an adult now. I own furniture and I don't have roommates anymore. I live by myself. AND. IT. IS. AWESOME!!!
I loved having roommates but I love living by myself more! It's been a little over a month since I moved to College Park from Baltimore and I've been completely unpacked for only about three weeks now. So here are the before and after pictures of my apartment (Grandma, these are for you and Amber since you don't have Facebook).
My apartment is 1200 square feet and is classified as a one bedroom. My new apartment is bigger than my apartment in Baltimore that I shared with two other people and it's only $20 more in the end! Please, come bask in the awesomeness of my new place with me. I love it and I hope you do too!
This is the outside of the house and the backyard.

So my apartment is in the basement of a house. The only downside is that I don't have my own entrance that locks from the outside. It's a pretty house though with a nice red door.

This gate leads to the backyard which is pretty awesome.

This is the back of the house. There is a sliding door that lets you into my apartment in the back.

The backyard is huge with lots of trees and a picnic table.

See! Lots of trees!

The best part about having lots of tree is that I was able to hang my hammock up!

The Before Pictures:

This is my kitchen before I was unpacked. The counter became a catch all for a few days.

This is part of the living room by the kitchen and you can kind of see the sliding door.

This is the living room. I bought most of my furniture from the previous tenant. She was getting married and didn't want it. She gave me a great deal and the furniture is really nice.

This is the dining room and the hallway to the bathroom.

The bathroom. The previous tenant was nice enough to leave the shower curtain which happened to match my bathroom stuff!

This is the bedroom with my beautifully huge bed. How can you not love a mattress that is 12 inches of memory foam?

Look at all the crap I accumulated in 2 years! I had a lot more stuff than I thought! Next time I move I'm not going to move food if I can help it.

My room was really empty before I unpacked.

The closet looks way empty!

Intermediate pictures:

Well, I was most of the way done with the packing. I think Nella grabbed my camera and took a picture of me putting my new bookshelf together. I look like I'm in a sandbox.

This is me putting together the entertainment center. We started the sucker face down. Whoops!

The After/ Finished Product Photos! Yay! Everything is put away!!!

My ginormous bed with its pretty bedding. I really like how it came together!

My room is huge!

A close up of the bed with my pretty shelves on the side!

This is going to be my reading corner. I love my new chair! And look Grandma, I still have the quilt you gave me when I moved to Maryland.

You can see my bedside table aka my dresser. Yes I put clothes in my bedside table. I didn't want to buy a dresser. Furnishing an apartment is expensive enough as it is.

The closet filled up quickly. I didn't realize I had so many clothes! My wardrobe has quadrupled since I moved from Idaho.

I kinda like my squiggly mirror.

I have a closet that is under the stairs so I made it into my pantry/storage room. It makes me happy seeing my food!

I also found a place for all of my shoes. The over the door storage things are quite handy.

Here's my bathroom in all of its green glory! I really like having my own bathroom!

One plus is that I don't have to feel guilty when I leave my stuff on the sink. My stuff tends to migrate into the territory of others when I share a bathroom.

Here's the hallway from the bathroom to the living room.

I love, love, LOVE my little coat rack!

My dining room! The chairs don't look like it but they were a pain to put together.

My living room! The couches are super comfy! The big couch is a hide-a-bed so people can come visit. I've actually have had a few friends stay on it since I've moved in.

My pretty entertainment center with my larger-than-I-thought movie collection.

The two brown chairs aren't comfy yet but I'll get them broken in!

I should find slipcovers for them. They aren't very pretty but they match everything.

My loveseat and the sliding door to the backyard.

The view when you come in the sliding door.

The kitchen! Looks different with stuff put away and not on the counters.

My message board and pan rack. Whoever thought of the pan rack was a genius! It saves so much room in an apartment.

I love the little spice racks on the walls. The only problem I have with the kitchen is that someone extremely tall designed it. I can barely reach the bottom shelf of the cupboards. Good thing my furniture purchase also included a step stool. The previous tenant was a short girl too.

Aside from the bed, this may be my most favorite thing about my new place. I love the grill! I've used it a ton since I got it.