Welcome to the jungle

Apparently I live in the rainforest.  Why, you ask?  I'll tell you.  My yard has become a raging river, that's why.  I can't even walk out to get my mail because my goulashes aren't high enough for the water.  So I'm stranded in my house.  Not a bad place to be actually since I had off today and filled the hours watching GIRLS and Bill Maher and looking at everything I can't afford from Anthropologie.  (I totally should have been reading Anna Karenina since I'm still 600 pages short of finishing, but a girl can only take so much russian literature!).

So, during my hours of peaceful television bliss, my yard is slowly saturating, to the point of looking like a bloated sponge.  In fact, we have a nice little swimming hole where our septic tank lies.  I won't be walking back there anytime soon.

I took this video for you.

Lucy, stuffed animal killer.

As you know, we have a dog.  Lucy.  She is a pure redbone coonhound and possibly one of the cutest puppies to have ever walked this earth.

SEEEE!!!???  How could you possibly say no to this wrinkly face??  Redbone coonhounds have a plethora of great qualities besides being obscenely cute and wrinkly.  Obviously intelligent, loyal, outdoorsy, kind, loving...etc.  Remember Where the Red Fern Grows anyone?

So anyone who met Lucy would assume the same, right?  Pssssh.  Lucy, we've learned, is posh and she's extremely scared of most people.  She likes being inside on her comfy bed sneakily watching the cat instead of outside in the sun running after  escaped cattle.  We practically have to force her to go outside to go pee.  Weird.  

And she only likes chew bones when the cat is around.  So, in light of this situation, we thought she might like a plush animal toy to carry around with her since she obviously can't do that with la chat.  

Well, within FIVE MINUTES, cute, helpless little stuffed fox was now inside-less.  I assume it's passive-aggressiveness she feels for Crookshanks.  Poor fox.  Never stood a chance to Lucy, the stuffed animal killer.  

Probably the best I've seen yet!

I don't know if you can read this, but here is the link to see this up close--it's a MUST READ if you have doggies!!

I fell through a vent.

That's right.  I fell through a vent.  Nasty little buggers.  The floors in our house were covered in paper (the walls were being painted), and I, never thinking about disaster, stepped through the paper and clear into an air vent hole.  All the way.  Did I cry??  No.  Would I have cried had Handsome Taylor not been there?  Most definitely.  But he lifted me out of my vent hell and we surveyed the damage.

At first, I thought I had broken my leg.  It probably would've been better that way--I had a horrible limp and nobody understands when you tell them you've fallen in an air vent.  It's been three weeks and I still don't wear shorts...mostly because it looks like someone took a bat and beat me, but we're getting there.  Anyway, here are the first pictures of my leg about an hour after the embarrassing trauma.

Contrary to popular belief, that is not my gigantic quad muscle sticking out.

Stupid air vent.

Just in case you ever were to doubt my dad's alumni...

My dad went to Clemson University in SC.  And in SC, you're either for Clemson, or you're not.  There just isn't another option (at least in our family's case).  Right now, my dad lives in Florida, and just so people don't get him confused for another allegiance, he placed a few decals on his car.

 

Normal looking car...

1st simple decal, placed on rear driver's side

FOUR more (FIVE if you're including the license plate holder)

Obviously, you have to match decals on the passenger rear side

And of course, if someone is coming at you from the front, they'll know too...

But wait!  Who can forget the headrests!?!

...And the floor mat...

And just so you have Clemson memorabilia wherever you go...

And last but not least, if you have a decked out Clemson car, you must have a decked out Clemson keychain.

My father, a Clemson tiger through and through.  :)

Officially a Microbiologist!

Okay, so I haven't gotten around to taking any pictures of my workspace until now.  I actually have my own space!  No coffee, though.  This is a dirty space.

To be specific, I work with bacteria from poop.  It's not all bad; Pseudomonas spp. smells like grapes, and E. coli looks like an 80's neon green on my EMB plate.

I'm learning slowly and steadily, and I've already had my throat cultured (I had a sore throat) by one of the women in the lab to see if anything unusual was growing in there (there wasn't...well, a little Staph aereus but that is found in sore throats anyway).

I haven't mastered the art of carrying arm loads of plates without dropping all of them yet, but that too will come.  But after I master the art of Bacteriology, I will move onto Mycology and then Parasitology in the lab :)  Baby steps, though.

Oh, and Uncle Scott, B, and Keith, you will be happy to know that you can carry on with your poop jokes.

Doggies!

I found these on Pinterest...(thank heavens for Pinterest) and I just had to share!  Maybe these will brighten your day as much as mine!

Ha!

Science...but really Math

Design my kitchen around these

Have you ever seen that commercial...you know, the one where the couple brings in a regular looking sink faucet to this fancy-schmancy designer man and tells him to design their kitchen around it?  Well, I don't have a faucet, but yesterday I was out to tea with my godmother and mom and found these spectacular dish towels that are cute, yet extremely sophisticated and functional at the same time.  It's like they're saying, "Yes, you can wipe your hands on me and you can also learn about variations of tomatoes".  Fabulous.

I just couldn't resist showing what really caught my eye before I purchased my fabulous dishtowels...for reference, Handsome T is the Beefsteak.  :)

Best Commercial Ever!

My brother sent me this link as soon as the commercial came out (and I suppose this was because I had gone through a no shaving period a few years ago).  Either way, it is still an awesome commercial.

Denver dog

If you haven't seen this video of Denver, the lab, who sneaked into the kitty treats, please watch it!

Beaches!

Handsome Taylor and I just got back from a trip to the beach.  And it was awesome.  The first couple of days we stayed with T's wonderful twin brother (Garrett) and his wife (Emily) at their townhouse in Wilmington, NC.  


Oh, and the new addition to their family, Walter; the amazingly cute and deer-like weimaraner that hasn't yet grown into his legs yet...and the poor thing had to wear a cone to keep from nipping at his stitches where his "man-parts" used to have been.  He destroyed the cone, though...while he was wearing it (we haven't figured how he managed to do that).  

We went to Carolina Beach (and this time we were stocked up on important necessities).  And yes, the beach was fantastic.  I didn't melt into my chair like I did a few years ago and not once did I get burned!  I give thanks to my Neutrogena sheer SPF 55 sunscreen.

The pickles were the highlight!

Taylor, Garrett, and Walter...Emily and I were scratching our heads as to why they were so tired, but at least they didn't mind the photo op :)  

Thanks Em and Garrett!!  We will come again soonly!!

We left Wilmington and drove up the coast to Emerald Isle, and let me just say that there will never be a shortage of rent-able beach houses.  It was a ghost town beach, but our hotel was right on the water and in prime location to the pool and hot tub.

Tee-hee!

Oh, and there was a crabshack down the road...and we took full advantage of 3 lbs of crablegs.   And in case you were wondering just what 3 lbs. of crab legs look like...

And for your reference, this is what 3 lbs of crablegs look like once two hungry people stuff themselves.

Our next stop up the coast was the quaint, little town of  New Bern.  And I successfully persuaded Handsome Taylor to stay in a B&B, the Hanna House, whichI highly recommend it to everyone.  We had by far the most amazing breakfast I think I've ever had--I'll indulge you for a minute: stuffed sourdough french toast with cream cheese, walnuts and blueberries, herbed eggs in croute with red pepper sauce, fresh squeezed orange juice and fresh fruit.  Drool.  

We did take a ghost tour of New Bern, but I'll save that for a later blog since there is a lot of pictures--and feel free to look for ghosts!  Here are the rest of the pictures of quaint, little New Bern: 

I knew I liked New Bern whose city "animal" is the bear :)

Even though I am a Coka-cola person, Pepsi-cola was founded in this store!!  We had to have a Pepsi to celebrate the rich history of the town.

Frazier is what they meant.

The most delicious martini I have ever had...key lime pie, complete with graham cracker! 

I took a picture of the ducks because the duck on the left is a monster duck!  It was HUGE!!