100 Happy Days: Day 5

Happy Easter!!! One of my favorite things about Easter outside thinking of Christ and his resurrection is the food! In my opinion, it's not Easter dinner until someone brings the deviled eggs out. Mine are not as pretty as Grandma Nola's but they taste delicious! Yes. There is an odd number because I ate one before taking the picture. I couldn't resist the tastiness!

100 Happy Days: Day 4

The awesome Brittany from Book Addict's Guide held a giveaway for her two year blog anniversary. And I was the winner! Thanks for the books, Brittany! Aren't they lovely?

100 Happy Days: Day Three

I love my comic book bag! It makes me super happy every time I use it! 

100 Happy Days: Day Two

Today's happy is my new favorite bookmark. The Big Bang Theory quote is so spot on.

100 Happy Days: Day One

It's been a little crazy and scary for my family and I the last few days. If you ever want to feel completely useless, try being over a thousand miles from home when there is a serious family emergency.

This last Saturday, Dad had a stroke. He's currently in the ICU and being treated for a number of things. Thankfully, the doctors say he should have a full recovery and things are looking better each day. 

That being said, I've been on a roller coaster of emotions the last couple of days. I've never been so scared in my life and I've never felt so guilty not being there with Mom and Britt. I know that there isn't really anything I could do if I was there, but it still seems wrong not being there. 

I've felt a lot of negative emotions since Saturday, but I've also felt a lot of positive ones as well. Like relief in finding out it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I've felt lots of gratitude for the family and friends who rallied around to help and offer support. I'm especially grateful for Brittany. She's the rock that's held us together the last few days. Pretty much, I've felt all of the emotions since Saturday.

I've seen a gratitude challenge going around Facebook and Twitter called 100 Happy Days. Basically, you showcase in pictures something that made you happy that day. And right now with everything going on, I need the reminder that there are lots of small things that make me happy every day and I want to be grateful for them. So I'm going to do this challenge and I'm going to post the picture every day to my Instagram and to this blog. I don't want to forget to be happy even though it's been a really depressing few days.

Today, homemade carne asada tacos with fresh avocado made me incredibly happy. Thank heavens for Tex Mex!

Here's to 99 more happy days!

What I've Been Up To: March 2013 Edition

So... It's been a while. I've posted short little snippets here and there but nothing about what I've done since March. Whoops! My bad. Can I use the argument that I've been super busy? Well, I have but even to me that's a lame excuse. One of my New Year Resolutions is to be better at posting stuff on my blog.
So to make up for my slacking, I'm going to recap the major things that have happened since March.
March was a busy month with midterms, research, and spring break. It was probably my busiest month of the semester but I got to do a lot of awesome things outside of school!
For Spring Break, I went to New York with Nella and Faith. I wanted to visit the city one more time before I moved in the summer and it just so happen that all three of us could fit it in while I was off for break. It was so much fun!
We stayed in a hostel not too far from Central Park! We didn't get to do everything we had planned but we did a lot! The first thing you do when you get off an early morning bus ride at noon is get food and what better food to get than New York style pizza!

New York Style pepperoni pizza!

Does this even need a caption? Okay. It was delicious!

After we ate, we went and saw the Harry Potter exhibit at the Discovery Center. It was super cool but we couldn't take pictures inside the exhibit. Which is really unfortunate because it would have been awesome to commemorate the moment I got to sit in Hagrid's chair and looked like a little kid. We did get one picture at the exhibit.

Photographic proof that I saw it.

After that, we checked into the hostel where we stayed the night. Mostly we just slept there but Nella and Faith immortalized our stay by putting our names on one of the giant Jenga pieces. I was dead asleep when they did this.

I should mention that before we went to check in, we went and stood in line at the Broadway discount ticket booth. Guess what we got tickets for?

Yeah! We got super cheap tickets to Phantom! I was able to see The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway during its 25th anniversary! It was amazing! It was everything I had hoped it would be and more! If you ask Faith and Nella, they'd tell you that I was a ball of barely suppressed excitement. I bet you're thinking with discount tickets that we didn't have good seats. Would you like to place money on that?

This is what heaven looks like.

Bam! Look how close we were! Fourth row, baby! It was amazing! Okay, I'm done gushing now.
After the show, we went and got cheesecake at Juniors and hit up Times Square.

Obligatory tourist photo in Times Square.

When we were there, we watched this guy make this awesome picture using spray paint and a couple tools. Nella bought it.

See? Look how cool that is.

 And you can't go to Times Square without going to the M&M's store. Okay, I can't go without going to the M&M's store.

Look at all the M&M's! It's paradise!

We also stopped at what would be the first of five toy stores we visited while we were there. We stopped by the Disney store where I proved that I can indeed act like a lady and perform a curtsy without falling over.

See? I can do it.

The next day I got to walk through Central Park for the first time! And by walk through Central Park, I mean we walked the whole length of the park! My pedometer tracked the mileage and we walked about six miles that day. Most of it was in the park. Good thing it is a really lovely place!

View of Manhattan from the top of the Castle in Central Park.

An actual picture of the Castle.

Proof that I was really there! It was a little windy up there!

My traveling companions: Nella and Faith!

So weird tangent. Have you ever seen the animated movie, Balto? I loved this movie when I was a kid and I told myself that one day I would go to New York and see the Balto statue. Guess what? I found it! With a lot of trouble and a considerable amount of help from a Central Park app on my phone.

Balto!

Faith and I on the rocks just above the ice skating rink in Central Park. It was a great pic of part of the skyline!

After Central Park, we hit up a bunch of toy stores! The first one is just outside the park and was the infamous F.A.O. Schwarz.

 You can't see it but the doormen for the store dress up as toy soldiers! How cool is that? I got a picture with one but I can't seem to find it.
Have you ever seen the movie Big with Tom Hanks? Remember the huge piano he got to play by walking on it? I totally got to do that! The Big Piano resides in F.A.O. Schwarz and they let your group spend 15 minutes playing it. One of the best days ever!

Another item on my bucket list checked off!

It was fun playing on that piano!

Giant pianos aren't the only think we found there.

Well, hello giant Lego Batman. I know this is presumptuous, but would you like to go home with me?
The next stores we went to were the Nintendo store and the Lego store. The Lego store was kind of disappointing. F.A.O. Schwarz totally had better Lego statues.
The last toy store we hit was the Toys 'R' Us in Times Square. It has a giant Ferris wheel inside the store! It's awesome!

The Ferris wheel is three stories high!

This car seems oddly appropriate.

Yet again, this store had better Lego statues than the Lego store.

Aw! Does the Hulk need a hug?

They had things besides Lego statues too. Like Optimus Prime and Jurassic Park!

Why hello you giant robot, you?

Please don't eat me, Mr. T-Rex!

Why is it that every time I see a T-Rex that I need to quote Meet the Robinsons? Sigh. I have a big head and little arms! Okay. I'm good now.

I found my people! And they were awfully tasty!
New York was super fun and was the biggest thing that happened in March. But the week after I got to do something equally amazing!
I went to the Holi celebration just outside of DC. For those who don't know, Holi is a Hindu festival also known as the Festival of Colors. It occurs in the spring and celebrates new beginnings and life. You also get to throw colorful powdered dye at each other. It was awesome and free! I went with my friend, Lauren, from school. It was a great stress relief after our last set of midterms.

Lauren and I. I'm the one with the derpy face. This was after our first color throw.

We changed colors by the end of the day.

This is what is left after you shake yourself off as good as you can.

I went through half a bottle of shampoo getting all the powder out of my hair. My bathtub was purple for a few days.

I stripped on the stairs so I didn't get any powder on the carpet. I should have taken a picture of all the powder that was on the stairs after I put my clothes in the washer.

I highly recommend going to Holi at least once if you're able. Just be prepared to spend 30-45 minutes in the shower getting clean afterwards. I had light blue and purple streaks in my hair for a few days after even after using copious amounts of shampoo.
March was a memorable month to be sure! I was able to cross off like six things off of my bucket list. I'll call that a win!

Today My Faith In Humanity Was Restored By A Little Old Lady And Her Nail Polish

This week has been rough and it's not over yet. The current government shutdown has the lab in shambles. Part of the staff is furloughed and the lab is running on reserve funds. I'm very blessed not to be affected monetarily by the shutdown. But It has been stressful trying to get work done. 

Today a little old woman reaffirmed my faith in humanity. One of the secretaries, Barb, who is furloughed came in today to help out in a way only she could think of. She brought in baked goods and nail polish. 

Now Barb wanted to help out but knew she couldn't physically help. So she did what all grandmothers do. She saw a need and filled it. She brought baked goods in to lift every ones' spirits. Seriously, brownies are a cure all for everything! 

But Barb also saw a need that some of us didn't know we were missing. She saw that the women in our division needed a few minutes of "girl time". So she brought in the nail polish, her pedicure kit, and a schedule with 30 minute time slots that had been assigned to each of us.

I went to her office at my assigned time not knowing what to expect. At that time I was unaware that she had brought the nail polish.

Now, we all know that I'm not one to paint my nails. I would do it off and on when I was younger but I lost all interest in keeping it up in college. So when I saw the foot bath and polish I was a little wary. I was thinking of excuses to get out of it as Barb and I small talked. 

I was getting ready to make my excuse and run when Barb looked at me with a smile before she said. "Now Miss Jessica, I know that you're not one for painting your nails but would you do an old woman a favor and let me give you a pedicure. One, you'll be helping me keep busy. And two, you probably need it."

At that point, I couldn't say no and I remembered a discussion I had with a friend a while back. I had been complaining that people weren't letting me serve them. My friend looked me straight in the eye and told me that sometimes serving someone means letting them serve you because the service they needed the most was that feeling of being useful from filling another's needs.

So I dutifully sat and got my pedicure. And you know what? It was exactly what I needed. It gave me a break from the stress and the science and it gave me the opportunity to talk to Barb. I can't remember what we talked about even though it was earlier today. But I came out of that time slot feeling more refreshed than I had in a while. Not to mention, my toe nails look amazing. Well, according to Barb they fit my personality.

Lesson from today: my faith in humanity and my sanity can be restored by a little old lady with nail polish.

And because I know some of you would want photographic evidence...