However - it looks like I’ll have some time today to get some of my long-awaited writing done. Check back for some of those posts with the recent updates coming in below!

Update 6/5/08: While reading this month’s (June 2008) issue of Reader’s Digest, I noticed freerice.com is mentioned on page 23 (go have a look for yourself on the bottom left corner of the page!).

But that wasn’t the worst part. I didn’t realize what had happened for two days because I thought everything had saved just fine, and I hadn’t needed to change anything in my presentation, which was pretty much ready to go. When I finally did realize what had gone down, I wanted to cry because I only had two more days to get all the slides put back together AND read all the papers I’d put off reading until the last minute because I am a horrible procrastinator. Kris, bless his heart, spent nearly four hours trying to find some way to recover the data I’d lost. Unfortunately while he was doing this on both our computers upstairs, my laptop, and my USB, I couldn’t work on putting anything back together. Because I am an idiot.

Luckily, I had about half of what I’d lost saved in my presentation for the department last year, and Kris did recover about another quarter of the rest, so it didn’t take too long to get back to the point where I’d lost everything. Of course that also meant I lost time in which I could have been gathering more data, but I accepted that loss. I finally was ready for my presentation!

So…the presentation went great! A bunch of people from my lab came that I was hoping would come, and even a few of my other friends showed up (thanks Renee and Karen!!!) that I’d invited but didn’t necessarily expect to be able to make it. The only bad part was that the room we were in was FREEZING, so my committee decided to move my annual thesis meeting to another room.

Well, since the presentation had gone so well, I truly expected that the meeting would go well too. Everyone I’d talked to had told me not to worry about it, that it was just meant to be a helpful time to guide you with your project. But for me, it was (no sugar-coating here) a nightmare. They kept asking me questions I couldn’t answer, so I kept having to rely on my advisor to answer them for me. And they kept saying “I have a bit of a naive question…” so how stupid did I feel that I couldn’t even provide a glimpse of what they wanted to know? I felt even worse when my advisor tried to give me hints with a simple yes or no question that I just had to guess and then guessed wrong…I’m getting a feeling of nausea just thinking about it again. He asked me about staining certain parts of a cell, which I’ve never actually even done, and if I’ve only read about something and haven’t done it hands-on it’s very difficult for me to grasp how things are done. They asked SO many things to which I knew I knew the answer, but for some reason just completely blanked on, and then remembered as I was driving home later on. I mean, I did know that I needed to do more reading in relation to the project I’d been working on, but in all fairness I had been working on a different project when I presented for my advancement to candidacy and did not realize the scope of what I needed to know for this current project would be so huge. Then the worst part happened…my advisor made me get up and “draw it on the board.” I had no idea what he wanted me to draw, and again the “I know this dammit!” frustration set in, but I just could not for the life of me remember or deduce what the heck this structure looked like.

The torture was finally over, and they asked me to leave the room. I honestly didn’t think that was part of the annual meeting process, just part of the advancement to candidacy and more formal meetings. But I for some reason still had a good feeling of the presentation going well, and while I was waiting I was not nervous at all, chatting with a couple girls from the lab in the kitchen. After about 15 minutes, they call me back in.

My advisor does all the talking, and it’s NOT good. “We feel that your level of knowledge is significantly lacking for a fourth year student. You don’t seem to be dedicated or enthusiastic about your project, and we want to plan a follow-up meeting for September. This project is a thesis on a golden platter, and you should grab the opportunity to get some high-impact papers as soon as possible.” Or something close to that. I felt like an idiot, and I was mortified. They asked how I “felt about that” and I replied that I knew I had more reading to do, and that I was actually going to suggest we have a meeting again in the fall (since one of my committee members is leaving for France at the end of the year; let’s not even mention how much I was freaking out about that the whole week before my meeting too…). I didn’t say anything about the “not being dedicated or enthusiastic about the project” part - I was just too upset about that. I also admitted that I knew I was going to be in graduate school for a couple more years. I got married last year, and have taken a bit longer to fulfill my requirements than the “usual student” so I did know that already. But no excuses can be used, nothing is good enough. I was pissed that even though I’d spent a whole weekend while I was sick IN the lab (did I mention that before???) and didn’t get any credit for doing so. And I was really bummed that they didn’t think I was enthusiastic about my project!!! I really love my research, but this whole experience made me consider (albeit for only about five minutes) just leaving graduate school right then and there. I so just wanted to go home and cry. But I also wanted to get stuff done in the lab, to prove them wrong that I am actually working hard! So I set up more samples to run for sequencing, and some other digests to run overnight.

But it didn’t end there. I was horrified to the point where I just didn’t want to look anyone from my committee in the eye. I couldn’t leave the lab right after because later on Tuesday we had a meeting of all the graduate students and my advisor about visitors we’ve had the rest of this week - going to their seminars, having lunch with them, and accompanying them to their various interviews. I wondered how the hell I was going to get anything actually accomplished in the lab at all during the rest of the week, because I was obligated to go to these lunches (well, it was free food at least), the seminars, and the thesis defense presentation of the senior graduate student in the lab.

I feel so bad making this comparison, but right now it seems somewhat appropriate. Just like a huge earthquake that went off Tuesday morning, I got to feel the aftershocks all week long.

On Wednesday we had regular departmental seminar with a high-profile speaker that 3/4 of my committee came to hear speak, as well as a seminar given by an interviewing Post-Doc in which half of my committee was in attendance. So after being embarrassed to hell with all of them the previous day, I had to face them all at one time or another the very next day when I normally wouldn’t have seen them for weeks on end! After that was probably the best and worst part of the week - the senior graduate student from my lab gave his thesis defense. It was good because it was a gleaming light at the end of a very bleary tunnel after getting beaten down in a committee meeting, but bad because I am now the senior graduate student in the lab. It was also the worst part of the week because I swear my advisor sat there glaring at me during a few moments in the presentation, and also because of what my fellow grad student said at the end of his talk during his acknowledgments. He talked about how our advisor had taken him out to lunch almost every week when he started to talk about his project and science in general, then over the years, he got to work more and more independently. He talked about how our advisor is known as a great scientist, but how he also got to know that he was a great advisor too. I wanted to gag myself and also scream out in jealousy. I felt so pissed - just that maybe, if I’d had that kind of advice and one-on-one time, meetings every week when I started, that I wouldn’t be “so far behind.” That maybe, just maybe, if my advisor was actually around a bit more often and I didn’t have to remind him EVERY TIME WE TALKED what project I was working on, that I would be able to get a little bit more done, and if maybe he was in town a little bit more often he would actually have time to meet with me.

Well, that was pretty much the end of the hugely emotional parts of the week. Things are slowly getting better, and I’m sure will get much better by the end of next week. The prof that’s leaving for France helped get me some really excellent reviews for the broader aspects of the project, and also told me how to show I’m enthusiastic about the project - by taking the lead on it, which I am really trying to do now. And the really good news had to be that my committee does think I have a great project - so now all I have to do is read and get some data!

Ok, so as I mentioned below, after Valerie’s bridal shower, Kris, myself, and my mom headed back to my parents’ house to get ready for Ray and Donel’s wedding. It was a big rush to get clothes ironed (I had to turn my skirt inside-out, and Kris’s clothes were super-wrinkled from the trip in the suitcase), but in all honesty it didn’t take all that long to get ready. We headed out just in time, as we heard later that there was a big accident on the parkway which prevented a lot of the wedding guests from arriving in time for the ceremony. Well, it also didn’t take that long to get to the Victorian Manor (my dad already knew how to get there from when we’d visited it to check out as a reception site for my and Kris’s wedding last year), so we arrived in plenty of time for the ceremony.

I saw Donel as soon as we entered the building - she looked SO beautiful! I was really excited for her, and Ray, who has been one of my best friends from high school, and only one of a small handful that I still keep in touch with on a regular basis. But I also knew the wedding day jitters/annoyances, and made sure NOT to ask her if she was nervous (being asked that question makes you nervous even if you’re not, for all of you that don’t know!), and just told her how great she looked and wished her luck. Then all of us wandered into the ceremony room. Since we were among the very first people to be seated the ushers only asked which side we were on and showed us where we could sit - they didn’t escort me or my mom as they did the later female guests. The rest of the groomsmen came into the room, and I pointed out to Kris the two long-time friends of Ray’s that I had pseudo-dated years back. Of course I had already warned Kris about the fact that these “boys” would be there, and we had laughed about how I’d obviously ended up with Kris, and not one of them! Well, it was just plain good to see the two of them - after all, Ray has “kept me in the loop” of what’s happened to his buddies through the years, because girls are curious about these things. One of them is already married himself and has also had a baby - that they brought to the wedding and was mercifully quiet throughout the whole evening! The other one is apparently steadily dating someone. I made sure to say hello, have a quick catch-up, and introduce them both to Kris throughout the evening. Thankfully the awkwardness I’d kind of worried about was non-existent!

Anyway, so the ceremony started, and we wondered where the heck Linda, Art, Valerie, and Bill where. I’d tried to save seats for them, but since the moms were already being seated with guests standing, we had to give them up. Next down the aisle were two sets of junior bridesmaids (dressed in pink and so cute), two “regular” bridesmaids (dressed in periwinkle), the matron of honor, two flower girls and the ring bearer. Once Donel came in, escorted by her dad, I realized why the girls were dressed in different colors - Donel’s dress had both pink and blue flowers on it. The ceremony itself was not your regular “I Do’s,” but a more modern mix of vows written especially by the JP for Ray and Donel. I personally thought the JP went a bit overboard with trying to poke fun at Ray (by saying Ray was incredibly nervous and such) and lighten the mood, but maybe that’s just me feeling defensive toward my friends. We got some great pictures of the ceremony, including the kiss.

After the ceremony was over, we were ushered upstairs for the cocktail hour. We found our table assignments, which were attached to the LOVE glass coaster favors, and signed a black and white picture which Ray & Donel were using as their guest book. Val, Bill, Linda, and Art finally arrived and told us about the huge accident on the Garden State Parkway which we had managed to avoid, yet they got stuck in traffic with. Nevertheless, we all enjoyed a few cocktails and some appetizers. For the most part they were good, but I do have to complain a bit about two items. First, the “minor” annoyance of the very tasty hot wings - just so messy and nothing to “cool” down the hotness. I was left to chug my cocktail to relieve the fire in my mouth, and relegated to using 50 small and nonabsorbent cocktail napkins to try to clean my hands off. The second was the major lack of weenie tots, a favored hor d’ourves by the old high school crowd of Ray, Marisa, Val, and myself, and a joking comment Ray made back then that “there’d better be weenie tots at all your weddings, regardless of the fanciness” or something along those lines. Marisa certainly had them, and so did I, but Ray hid most of them in the bridal party only cocktail hour! I think I maybe had two which I grabbed from a passing and almost-empty plate.

Soon after, we were once again ushered to a new room for dinner and dancing. We found our table right away - it was right by the door, and we had a great view for the bridal party entrance. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very close to the dance floor, so we missed out on being able to see most of the first dances. Somehow we also ended up being among the last tables to “be called” for the buffet-style dinner, but the food was really good and there was plenty to go around (enough for seconds!). We wandered around looking for the mysterious but much proclaimed daiquiri fountain, which I thought would be huge and prominently placed, but was in fact pretty small, and hidden in a corner. I actually got Kris to dance for a little while, and then joined in with Val and eventually my mom and Linda for some of the “typical dances” like the Electric Slide and the Twist. Once again seated at the table, we realized that they had brought out the desserts (since we were seated so close), and garter & bouquet tosses, and the cake cutting, we rushed the dessert table. That was pretty much the best “alone” time to give Ray and Donel our well wishes, so we did so and said goodnight. I don’t know how much longer Val, Bill, Linda, and Art stayed, but my parents, Kris, and I had already had a long day so we left for the evening. All in all, we had a great time, and of course it was wonderful getting to spend the evening with close friends who are getting married at another close friends’ wedding! Congrats again to Ray & Donel!!!

(And I apologize for the late back-dating of this post!)

As everyone helped finish setting up, the guests arrived. Soon after, Valerie herself arrived, and gave a great mock surprise expression for some pictures. Since she was out picking up her wedding gown, she was able to show it to all of us right then and there. I must say, it’s simple, yet elegant, and certainly a “Val style.” I can’t wait to see what it’s going to look like on her! Just after I was able to announce the winner of the first game, which was a guestbook sign-in including anniversary date, and my mom won by having the closest wedding date to Valerie and Bill. We made sure everyone had clothespins so we could start playing the “Don’t say the word Wedding” game, and I must say everyone was pretty careful about not saying it right away, but as the party advanced more and more of us slipped up!

Well, the next game we played right away was “Bridal Bingo,” or our version of it which we entitled “Beach Blanket Bridal Bingo.” This isn’t a game that’s easy to find a description on, but is one of my favorites. The game is used as an icebreaker, and what you have is a card with 5×5 squares with different criteria in them, and you have to find another guest that matches that criteria. I tried to make the criteria Val and Bill specific, and when I needed help with coming up with some of those criteria, Marisa had some great suggestions (thanks again, Marisa!). I knew some of the criteria would be hard to fill (”Has been to a roller derby”), but I think because the party was small, it was extra difficult to get a row, column, or diagonal filled when we only allowed one guest to sign each criteria. We still had a great time getting to know one another trying to fill in our squares! Val’s stepsister Amy won this game, and afterwards everyone got some yummy food and chatted about the upcoming nuptials. Marisa, the proud mom-to-be, also shared her recent ultrasound pictures with us. I couldn’t believe how many she had - it was like a whole roll of film of pre-natal photos - and you could really see a lot of body details: an arm, a leg, hands, and the sexing photo to show they’re expecting a boy.

The next round of games shooed Valerie into a room we couldn’t see her, and while the rest of the guests played a memory game, Val herself was filling in a questionnaire for “The Newlywed Game,” which Rebecca and I had conspired earlier with Bill to get the answers Val would try to match. One everyone (including Valerie) was done, she came back into the room so we could see what she was wearing. I actually had the most correct answers, but only because I made a guess at what kind of undergarments she was wearing. Woo-hoo! After I received my prize, Valerie sat down and answered the Newlywed Game questions aloud to see how many answers matched Bill’s, which I read aloud. Since Val was already seated in the designated bridal chair, we proceeded to the gift opening. Margeux and Julie handled passing the gifts to Valerie to make things easier, while Marisa recorded which gifts were from which guests (for ease of thank you card writing later), Rebecca worked on the bow hat/bouquet, and I recorded the funny things Valerie said while opening her gifts - the “wedding night/honeymoon preview.” We took lots of picture and had quite a few laughs, and then everyone enjoyed the cake and various other desserts. I had collected quite a few clothespins by this point, but since I had already won a prize, I purposely said “wedding” thereby pretty much giving my clothespins away.

Once the party drew to a close, Valerie’s cousin Elaine had collected the most clothespins. She was pretty excited, which was very cool. Since Rebecca had brought one more prize that she really wanted to give away, we came to the conclusion that Valerie should decide how that should be done. Her thought was to give the prize to the person who had the anniversary or birthday closest to her and Bill’s real anniversary, which is in December. This person turned out to be Marisa, so that was pretty cool.

After the party was over, we rounded up the men (Bill, his stepdad Tim, his brother Johnathan, Rebecca’s boyfriend Guillaume, and Kris who had spent the time during the party bowling and chowing down at a local diner), and Kris, myself, and my mom headed home to get ready for Ray and Donel’s wedding!

Once our friends got back from their Christmas trip to see family in Utah, we were able to give them their games and controllers back. We’ve been playing GH2 on and off when we have time since then. We knew about Rockband the whole time, and certainly wanted to check it out if given the opportunity. Our friends Diane & Eddie had been telling us that they had just bought Rockband back in February, and after our trip out to the Seed 9 Rally (to help them as service crew) we were invited to stay and play Rockband for the very first time! Again, we were hooked. And, a couple weeks ago, Kris and I were able to borrow Rockband ourselves from Lyndsey and Anneli. We had Eddie & Diane and Erik & Amy over for dinner and all played together, then our friend Karen, Vince, and Mick for game night. Unfortunately for us, we only have a PS2 while Eddie & Diane have a PS3 - which has way more interactive features and downloadable content, as well as online gameplay. The huge bummer for this is that the PS2 has all those capabilities too, the game designers just decided to take those features out of the PS2 version for whatever reason.

Ok, so back to Easter weekend. Saturday was a lazy day, both of us relaxing and me especially just trying to get over the cold I’d had for the entire week. We eventually got ready to go out to a murder mystery dinner show, which my parents had bought me tickets to as a birthday present. The show was near the airport in Irvine, so we didn’t have to go very far and actually arrived a bit early. We got to enjoy sitting by the hotel’s pool in a private cabana. Eventually we saw the doors open and went over to go inside. We were told to make up a name and a background story to go with it. We decided to do something fun, and since Kris has been told he looks like Matt Damon, he chose the name Jason Bourne. His background story was that he was a professional race car driver - not too much of a stretch to the imagination! My chosen name was Beth Bourne - since we ARE married after all - and my background was that I was a librarian. Also not too much of a stretch for me to falsify! Once inside, we got some drinks, then were told to mingle and suspect anyone wearing a name tag, question everyone! Not too soon after, we were ushered into the dining area, and were seated. We immediately suspected this one woman at our table, who we realized was alone. Her nametag read “Twin Peaks.” She said she was there because her friend told her about it and that she was an actress. She kept asking us if anyone at our table had been to one of these shows before or knew anything about this one, like how long it was supposed to be or whatever. I definitely thought it was suspicious that “her friend” wouldn’t give her any details or that she herself wouldn’t have tried to look up any info before coming to a show that she was supposedly checking out for an acting gig. At one point she became “part of the action,” and she “wanted to do a reading for an upcoming audition.” Her mistake was saying that audition was THAT night, and her big mistake is that she was a really bad actress. She also mentioned that she wanted to talk to someone who was a director, and I was thinking, um, I don’t think that guy is a director in real life. During dessert they gave us about five minutes to actually write down what we’d thought had happened. Kris and I really had no clue, although we make a bunch of connections between the clues - many more than the rest of our table did. It turned out only one person knew who it was, AND had a really good explanation, so she got some gifts. I was bummed that I couldn’t figure it out, but we still both had a really good time. And I have to say, I like this a lot more than the other two shows like it I’ve gone to in the past. One of these was Shear Madness, which was a lot of fun in it’s own right, though it was more of a show with some slight audience participation - and the ending of the show and killer was determined BY the audience. The other show was good too, and lots of fun because it was part of my family’s last trip to Walt Disney World.

On Sunday, we went over to Eddie & Diane’s place in Long Beach, where we’d been invited for Easter dinner. It was so nice to not have to cook again after being sick the whole week, and to spend a holiday with friends - who are Italian to boot! Diane had prepared and cooked a three course meal! We started with salad, bread, lasagna, pepperoni, and meatballs. It was so good we had to hold off on the next course of grilled asparagus, lamb tips, carrots, ham, and mashed potatoes. So in the meantime we played a bit of Rockband on their PS3! It was really cool to see all the differences - we continued a previous game and acquired the tourbus in a very short time - something you don’t get to do in the PS2 version we’d mostly been playing. Kris mostly played the guitar, and occasionally played the drums; I would have done some singing but my voice was gone due to my cold and sore throat, so the only song I could “sing” was Epic, and I instead took a few turns with the guitar myself. I think because Kris and I played Guitar Hero that we’re a lot better with the guitar and bass than anyone else we’ve played with, but it usually works out because Eddie wants to play the drums and Diane only sings. Anyway, we got through a bunch of sets and eventually got to play at what is essentially Madison Square Garden in NYC. We played the very first set of something like 5 songs there, and saw the second session would have been 18 songs - needless to say, late in the night, with only 4 people, one of whom does not have a voice, we decided to hold off on that one. Well, we had our second course of dinner, had chocolate torte, tea, and coffee for dessert, played a bit more Rockband and headed home. All in all it was an excellent weekend, despite still having a cold!

Afterwards, we got to a task which has been hanging over for us for a while - picking which of our formal pictures that we wanted prints of. It was a hard decision to make, especially because we had offered to let each set of parents have their choice of 30-35 prints apiece as well. Happily, Kris and I both had a good idea of what kinds of pictures we each wanted, so it was just a matter of going through a few of that “type” of picture and choosing the best one. It turned out that quite a few times both sets of parents had chosen the exact same print, and a bunch of times that there was a print all three of us wanted. I am so happy to say that we picked out and were able to order every picture that we desired!

While placing the photo order, we inquired with some of the local HAM radio acquaintances about the best Italian eateries in the area. I remembered (too late!) that the *best* Italian food I’ve ever eaten was up in Sky Forest at Cucina Cielo, where we had dinner during our mini-break just after we’d gotten engaged -but clearly this was a place that would have been too far to go to just for dinner. Instead, we got some great reviews for Bistango in Irvine, and Pepino’s in Mission Viejo. I opted for Pepino’s because Bistango looked a bit *too* pricey, and it also looked like Pepino’s had an awesome martini bar!

So it was off to dinner at Pepino’s. We both ordered Veal Parmesan, our favorite dish. I ordered an Italian Expresso Martini, which was a tasty, almost dessert drink. We were so full from dinner that we couldn’t even think about dessert, so I’m glad I got that martini! Afterwards, we went home and enjoyed some TiVo’d shows we’d been meaning to watch, and ended the day by setting all the clocks forward. It was very strange to have to do that on my birthday; I guess it is something I’m going to have to get used to with the new daylight savings hours. I lost an hour of my birthday, but I don’t mind - I’d rather have the extra hours of daylight at night!

I flew out to Las Vegas from LAX on Sunday, with a bit of a delay on the runway from the wind in Vegas. I didn’t know until I landed that I’d still arrived before Charlotte, her fiance` Jeffrey, and her sister Sarah, who had driven Charlotte’s car, with trailer attached, from SoCal. The winds made their drive to Vegas more difficult (because they were towing a box trailer from U-Haul), but they did eventually arrive in time for dinner. Instead of picking me up from the airport, Charlotte had arranged for her friends James and Joe to pick me up, so they were already there waiting for me with Tuyen - another co-worker of mine who had left herself to attend graduate school in Boston.

A quick trip to the hotel and soon after Charlotte, Jeffrey, and Sarah arrived. They checked into their hotel room, and one they’d reserved for friends to share, even though it ended up being “the girls’ room.” We all got settled in, and ready for the “rehearsal” dinner. Just before we left, Sarah, Tuyen, and I gave Charlotte some gifts to use as her “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” Sarah brought Charlotte the earrings she’d worn at her own wedding, as well as a garter, a silver pin (that Charlotte put on the garter), and a hankie from their grandmother that had lacy blue trim - which their great-aunt had hand-crocheted. Tuyen had some blue & silver hair jewelry, and I gave Charlotte my veil to borrow.

We set out for dinner at Landry’s, and had a wonderful time. James, Joe, and Tuyen decided they wanted to enjoy a night on the town in Vegas, so they went off to the strip while the rest of us went back to the hotel. Sarah and I started talking and completely lost track of ourselves - we just had so much in common that we couldn’t stop! I think we finally fell asleep around 2 AM. We woke up around 8 AM to start getting ready for the wedding - as Charlotte and Jeffrey went down to the chapel to make arrangements and then went off to the courthouse to obtain their marriage license.

When Charlotte and Jeffrey returned, it was a quarter of 10, and their wedding ceremony was supposed to be at 10 AM! They called the chapel to delay it - as Charlotte would not have had enough time to get ready. Then the curling iron was plugged in, and clothes were flying everywhere as the three girls helped Charlotte put on her makeup, do her hair, and get dressed. We were finally ready to go, and then headed over to the chapel. Last minute arrangements were made re: music, and then it was ceremony time! James walked Charlotte down the aisle as Sarah got their mom on the phone. Jeffrey and Charlotte recited their vows together - which made Sarah and I both cry! They had the longest wedding kiss I’ve ever witnessed, and then it was picture time! I directed several photos of poses I really like from Kris and my wedding, so I hope they came out nice!

Click here for my pictures from the dinner and wedding!
I will post a link once Charlotte & Jeffrey make their wedding page.

After the pictures, we made a quick stop back at the hotel to pick up my luggage before we headed over to the Bellagio for a buffet lunch. Unfortunately, I had to rush to leave to make my flight (which I almost did not!), but before I did, I made the happy couple pose for a few more “classic” pictures - a toast, and the toast while kissing! The food at the Bellagio was excellent, and the next time I’m in Las Vegas, I will be sure to go there for the buffet! Final thoughts: Charlotte and Jeffrey made an adorable couple, and I’m so happy for them both!

This year I’m much more involved. I’m already a bridesmaid in my cousin’s wedding in October, and I’ve been asked to be part of another friend’s wedding as well. I’ll be helping plan and attending bridal showers for Valerie (in April to coincide with when we’ll both be in NJ) and for Jerilyn (which will be in July when I’ll be in town again). I’ve already got outfits planned for all three weddings this year, and I just placed my order for my bridesmaid’s dress for Jerilyn’s wedding. I’m really excited because it looks like a really cute dress that I’ll be able to wear again - perhaps even to one of the weddings in 2009! (These pictures are all of the same dress she has chosen for us to wear, just different views. And the one that’s not black is the closest color I could find that would match the description of “cranberry.”)

I also found out that two people I know are pregnant and expecting their first child in August of this year (Marisa and Amanda). I want to wish everyone who’s planning their weddings and pregnant the best of luck with everything along the way. I’ll see you all soon!

Earlier in the week, I’d started a sourdough bread starter, so it was also time to take some out and bake a loaf in our breadmaker. We always love making bread, and since it was raining, it was a really great day to make a loaf. So I got all the ingredients together in the breadmaker’s loaf pan while Kris started sanitizing the kitchen and organizing all the things he would need to start the homebrew.

The process is fairly simple - crush some grains, steep them in a big pot of water, remove and add the malt, add hops and boil for 30 minutes to an hour. I keep trying to make it into a scientific process - exact measurements and temperatures, which is the way I usually cook - but it’s more of an art and a “whatever” laidback process, which is certainly more along Kris’s terms. Every time I get panicked about how long it’s been, or what temperature the wort is at Kris has to remind me of the homebrewing motto - Relax, have a homebrew!

Jason joined us for an “inside look” at the homebrew process, and we were able to share some fresh-baked sourdough bread with him. Finally, it was time to strain out the hops and dilute the wort to a total of 5 gallons and lower the temperature. Unfortunately, our cold water isn’t really cold from the tap, and we don’t really have room in the fridge for either the giant tub OR pitchers with enough water…so when Kris got to this step, the temperature didn’t drop as much as it needed to. So we brought the whole thing outside. It took a while, but eventually the temperature decreased enough and we brought it back inside for the start of primary fermentation. (Eventually we had to bring it back outside because it just wasn’t cool enough inside…)

Another part of the weekend was making some homemade vanilla extract! Kris had been searching Make Instructables, and came across this great one for DIY Vanilla Extract. It’s quite easy - all you need is a dark bottle, some vodka, and a few vanilla beans. We actually have a whole bunch of vanilla beans that we got on our honeymoon - a gift from the hotel - and since we’d changed rooms we got twice as much. We’d been wondering what the heck to do with the vanilla, even while on our honeymoon because it was presented as a “specialty item” to buy and bring home. I wonder what most other people do with the vanilla beans since it’s so expensive… Those thoughts aside, Kris also showed me that once you strain out the vanilla bean and pods, you can use them to make vanilla sugar, ala Alton Brown.

I was super excited when Kris showed me the instructable thing, because not only was it something to DO with the vanilla beans, but then we’d have homemade vanilla extract AND vanilla-flavored sugar made with vanilla from our honeymoon. The fact that these things will be homemade and reminders of our honeymoon in years to come make the whole thing extra special.