Or how I learned to stop worrying and love science

Revelation on Unrealistic Proportions

2012-01-30T09:06:00.003-05:00

I never really had strong negative body image issues, I thought I could loose some "side-chub" as I call it. I didn't feel fat, just mildly out of shape.

Then about two weeks ago I saw this on my friend Lauren's facebook page.

And now, provided that I keep working out (because it's fun!) and eating well (because vegetables are delicious!) and being generally healthy (because it really feels great), I am DONE feeling bad about little body things.

Love,

Tania

A first!

2012-01-29T12:06:00.001-05:00

Never saw this in a book before. Neato.

Quite

2012-01-29T10:54:00.000-05:00

Remainders

2012-01-28T22:44:00.001-05:00

These are all the books I own that I have yet to read. This does not include books Julian brought to the marriage. Faulk-whoozle? Gogoggol? Hemingsomething-or-other?

I don't want to live on this world anymore

2012-01-28T10:30:00.001-05:00

THIS is a section at Barnes & Noble.

VOOM!

2012-01-25T12:16:00.001-05:00

I wish these sunglasses...

were rocket goggles.

Flashback

2012-01-25T12:12:00.000-05:00

This tastes just like something I ate when I was a kid visiting Uruguay. Holy shit.

The calendar that keeps on giving

2012-01-25T08:45:00.002-05:00

Reference here.

Queen of the castle

2012-01-24T19:26:00.002-05:00

Sam always benefits from a trip to the grocery store. She is the queen of bags.

The bag-nitiation begins with some rolling.

It's not paper towels, but it will suffice.

T-minus 3 seconds to POUNCE.

The weather today

2012-01-24T13:48:00.001-05:00

The Christmas Box from Colorado

2012-01-24T13:13:00.002-05:00

Came in the mail today.

Avi: What words come to mind? Professional. Detail-oriented. Clean!

Love,

Tania

Only you can prevent forest fire(bears)

2012-01-24T08:34:00.001-05:00

Oops

2012-01-24T08:30:00.001-05:00

Sometimes...

2012-01-23T09:46:00.002-05:00

...when I fill out forms (especially when I reconcile the charges for our lab's procurement card), I wish I had a quill ... and a ledger .... and a blotter and tiny little spectacles that clamp pinchily to my nose. Sometimes I imagine I am a cross between Ebeneezer Scrooge and a librarian.

Love,

Tania

Finally.

2012-01-22T19:07:00.000-05:00

Fitness classes have started again! Tonight: kickboxing.

On soy milk

2012-01-21T12:13:00.001-05:00

I feel like a gigantic tease when I make cereal and soy milk because that cats don't know it's not real milk. I'm sorry, Hannah.

Om nom nom

2012-01-19T18:41:00.001-05:00

Echinacea, chelated iron, daily vitamin, sublingual b-12, and two (count em' TWO) tablets of vitamin c.

Fuzzy paws of doom

2012-01-19T11:47:00.001-05:00

Keeping me company while I'm home sick.

I felt that way yesterday

2012-01-18T15:33:00.000-05:00

Cape Fest 2012

2012-01-17T00:26:00.001-05:00

I am my father's daughter

2012-01-17T00:25:00.001-05:00

Found him in the parking lot. Took him to lab and cleaned him up (with bleach, soap and scalding water, and ethanol). Now he lives in the flower pot with Henrietta the basil plant and Rutiger the tiny glass cow.

Julian's epic scavenger hunt outline

2012-01-17T00:22:00.001-05:00

The 107 point word

2012-01-17T00:19:00.002-05:00

Well played, Scooter!

Quotes from today's lab meeting

2012-01-12T15:43:00.002-05:00

" I would die without sausage."

"Cattle prods don't kill people, they motivate them."

I love my lab.

Love,

Tania

Hello silver sharpie!

2012-01-12T15:42:00.000-05:00

This was super calming.

Riiiiiight

2012-01-11T12:49:00.001-05:00

murine = of the mouse

It is super easy to forget that. Although to be fair it makes more sense than bovine = of the cow.

Love,

Tania

Poor Mr. Sun

2012-01-11T11:17:00.001-05:00

Thanks, Mom

2012-01-11T11:08:00.004-05:00

For not ever cutting my hair without asking me. I loved my long hair when I was young. It's the way I still think of myself. So when I drew this 2 days ago...

I was really remembering this photo (kindergarten) and the many around this time with the same hairstyle.

Love,

Tania

My bananapants

2012-01-10T21:17:00.000-05:00

You know, as you do...

2012-01-10T21:14:00.001-05:00

Red letter

2012-01-09T09:35:00.001-05:00

No matter what else happens today, I dissected 3 larvae really well in under 9 minutes. A new record.

Ha! How appropriate!

2012-01-09T08:12:00.002-05:00

This was yesterday's doodle.

That's me kicking the world in the face.

Sigh

2012-01-08T19:08:00.002-05:00

So many things went wrong today, that it would be a real bummer if it weren't so incredible how many mistakes and bad luck events lined up in a row. It's ... impressive. And somehow that makes it better.

Thank goodness everyone is safe and healthy and all the things that went wrong are simply Not That Important in the Grand Scheme of Things.

As a hilarious in-joke with myself, I can tell exactly how bad today is because I've stopped answering "How are you?" truthfully. Normally when things are a little off I'll say that things aren't going so great or something to that effect. Without even thinking about it on the phone just now I said that I was doing "very well". Ha!

I really just want to be a kid again for a little bit.

Love, Tania

P.S. This post should cause no one to worry (I'm looking at you here, mom) - I'll be fine.

On knowing when to stop

2012-01-08T14:55:00.001-05:00

Sage SCUBA diving advice from Steve Doo: if three things go wrong on your dive, no matter how small, you end the dive.

That was me getting up and trying to knock out things on my to-do list this morning. So, I went grocery shopping, put on jammies, took a nap, and read a book. Soon I will restart my Sunday and try again. :)

Love,
Tania

Nuns on the run!

2012-01-06T15:14:00.005-05:00

Instead of a Tania calendar image today,
you get a Tania calendar image today.

Behold my new calendar! Nuns are hilarious.

Love, Tania

Ominous phrase of the day

2012-01-05T15:01:00.001-05:00

"two electrons of dark noise"

- Avi

context unknown ... SCIENCE!

Love,

Tania

The makings of tearwater tea

2012-01-05T09:52:00.001-05:00

Word.

2012-01-05T09:01:00.001-05:00

Not only is this undergrad generally excellent, but she speaks my language.

Brrrrrr....

2012-01-04T11:18:00.001-05:00

I love you winter, even when you make it hard.

Those are beagle blossoms

2012-01-04T08:36:00.002-05:00

Old inside joke with Julian.

At mom's suggestion

2012-01-04T08:36:00.001-05:00

Perhaps this will be a regular thing.

The squillion sisters

2012-01-03T17:36:00.001-05:00

The Christmas tree goes out tonight, alas. Here's a photo of the galaxy it made in the living room - and its reflection. I'll miss you, Pleiades.

Draw a thing a day calendar

2012-01-03T17:32:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I was in a bad mood. They started with a pre-drawn happy face.

The Invitation

2011-12-30T16:21:00.003-05:00

We have a big bookcase in our living room that houses, among other genres, some of my children's book collection. I love having them out in the open because it encourages me to pick up volumes at random and start paging through them. Yesterday I was waiting for Sami to finish eating and I grabbed a book off the shelf whose spine was so faded I couldn't make it out. I looked at the front cover and saw Shel Silverstein's signature. The words popped into my head, "If you are a dreamer, come in." I flipped to the front page and found my favorite First Poem of a Book.

If you are a dreamer, come in.

If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,

A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . .

If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire,

For we have some flax golden tales to spin.

Come in!

I remember reading this book all the time in elementary and middle school. The Giving Tree is great, and I like A Light in the Attic just fine, but I LOVE Where the Sidewalk Ends. It's even a spooky title (like the description in the Lorax about "the far end of town where the grickle grass grows").

Love,

Tania

WORDS WORDS WORDS

2011-12-30T11:02:00.002-05:00

Things in science sound so funny sometimes. Today I'm ordering this for our lab:

Alexa Fluor® 647-AffiniPure Goat Anti-Horseradish Peroxidase

Love,

Tania

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-12-29T17:57:00.003-05:00

You may have heard of my love for fall and Halloween (favorite holiday, non-gift-giving category), but my next favorite season is winter and I LOVE Christmas (favorite holiday, gift-giving category). I completely respect the humbugs out there, but I am over the moon for yuletide cheer. I love Christmas because of all the cherished memories, the fun traditions, and the Christmas spirit (which I very honestly try to carry around the whole year). I hate the materialism and commercialism as much as anybody, but I absolutely refuse to let the shittiness of contemporary culture sully the genuine joy of Christmas, which has NOTHING TO DO WITH PRESENTS.

Christmas trees are really lovely, they smell nice, and at night the soft blue lights are so very beautiful. It's like having the pleiades inside my living room.

Growing up we didn't really have additional Christmas decorations other than the tree, except my grammy had this ceramic Christmas tree. I loved it so much as a child and was ecstatic when she offered it to me this year while I was home for Thanksgiving. It reminds me of all the happy Christmas Eve's we had at grammy's house when I was growing up.

I tried to bring the same cheer to lab with one string of lights and 4 sparkly snowflake ornaments. I also was wearing my Santa hat for the week leading up to Christmas. I didn't want to step on anyone's toes, so I tried to keep the Christmas music only to the last week as well. I know a lot of people hate Christmas, but thankfully all the lab neighbors were fine with the tunes. It's not Christmas without a few rounds of I Saw Three Ships, All I Want For Christmas is You, and Happy Xmas (War is Over).

Thanks to everyone for all the Christmas cards. I look at them everyday in lab and think about each one of you.

A new Christmas tradition - we made gingerbread "houses" over Dave and Jen's this year. I decided to take things the easy route, never having worked with gingerbread construction before, and made a pyramid instead of a straight-up house. And, well, the Cthulhu-based role playing game we had just finished hours before may have been on my mind.

Love,

Tania

Miscellany!

2011-12-29T17:21:00.002-05:00

Agata drew this months ago. I framed it and it will live on my white board forever. Look at those silly fangs and dopey eyes!

Token artistic photo. From an abandoned garden near Mount Misery. Really.

Occupy Rodal lab. Ha!

Love,

Tania

The Centennial State

2011-12-28T16:58:00.001-05:00

After The Great Turkey Day Road Trip of Aught-11 I had 5 days before leaving the state again, but this time for a week and a half. The first 2 days were spent catching up from the previous week and the next 3 days were used to prepare for the upcoming trip. That was one hellish week. But then Avi picked Julian and I up at 5:30am on Saturday morning and we were off to the airport and all points west! We landed in Denver around 10 something, checked into our hotel, dropped our junk off and then it was off to the conference! The American Society for Cell Biology Meeting 2011 took over the Colorado Convention Center with over 6,000 attendees. It was huge and science-y and just amazing.

The lectures ranged from not my area of interest to very, very riveting. I was on the edge of seat once, really. One of the presenters mentioned the family of proteins I work on and, yes, I teared up a little. Avi and I presented our poster to a number of interested P.I.'s, post-docs and grad students. I presented to the latter two categories. I visited the vendor booths, got lots of swag, AND learned neat ways to repair our pipettors. One day my brain was just fried after 7 hours of dutiful scientific thought and I was so embarrassed that my puzzler was sore, but then Julian told me that that happened to everyone at some point.

The view from our 19th floor hotel room. You can see the convention center, Mile High Stadium, AND the mountains.

We had dinner here as a big lab conglomerate (Rodal Lab + Goode Lab+ friends) on Sunday night. It was sooo delicious. And actually, every night after that we ate together. It was so much fun. I love my lab family.

Wednesday came quite fast. The conference was over and then it was time to rent a car and drive to THE MOUNTAINS! We arrived at Winter Park Wednesday afternoon. We got happy hour margaritas and hung out in the outdoor hot tub, and then retreated to our condo with it's fancy one switch fireplace, made some pasta and watched The West Wing. It was so wonderful. The next day was full of skiing (and then once more margaritas, hot tub, dinner, West Wing ... lather, rinse, repeat), but the NEXT day was snowboard lesson day.

This is my bruise before it got all kinds of crazy colors. It is slightly larger than my fist.

Snowboarding was super hard and SUPER FUN. Our instructor Tim was very good-natured, as were we, especially me. I'm the falling-est. :) Next day, yup, still hard and still fun. And then it was time to pack up the ski clothes and drive down to the Springs!

On the way down, I had to stop to pee and so we stopped at DINOSAUR RIDGE! I wish we could have stopped and actually taken the tour, but nothing keeps a sister from her brother. Not even beautifully preserved dino tracks. I did however find time to pose with the statues, as the statues.

Dino-amazement!

Dino-disbelief!

They also raise cows. Look at the sweet snoot. Why are they so delicious AND so adorable? Tough questions.

We made it down to Colorado Springs like a bat out of hell (speed limit on I-25 is 75 mph) and I just sucked up all the family time I could get. It was really, really wonderful. Camilo, Olivia, Julian and I went to the super cozy Wisdom Tea House in Monument one afternoon for a truly delicious brunch.

I got the imperial gunpowder, Julian had a blood orange rooibos, and Olivia, I think, had the Sencha. Here are our teapots, like ceramic migratory birds.

Camilo and Olivia bought a house over the summer like real, bonafied adults. This house contains 3 cats. Here are two sister kitties Clementine on the left and Scout on the right.

Mrow! Sister kitty sleepy pile!

Laundry time is more fun (and slower) with cats. But very worth it.

All the meals and wrapping Christmas presents and playing with kitties and helping Dante with his homework went by so fast. And then we were driving back to Denver, hopping on a plane, and flying back home.

And so ended our Colorado-stravaganza.

Phew.

Love,

Tania

Homegoing

2011-12-27T21:43:00.001-05:00

I drove home for Thanksgiving. I didn't feel like flying this year. Even though the flight is only an hour and change and it's actually quite fun because I get to *gasp* watch tv on jet blue and eat chips and drink pop, even though all these things, I wanted to drive. So I did. Gene Wilder, Jad Abumrad, and Robert Krulwich got me through the 9.5 hour drive. By the time I got home (7 pm), mom was already at work but she had made my bed and even put mints on the pillows, as if this were some sort of fancy-ass hotel.

There was even a mint for Alibaba, the alligator that lives at the foot of my bed.

The next three days were really, really nice. I got to eat favorite childhood foods (milanesa and rice balls), spend time with Dad, re-read Into Thin Air, get my second ever cavity fixed, help Grammy put up her Christmas lights, spend a whole evening at the Kukla's, and run around with mom.

Here is delicious squash soup courtesy of Shawn (with croutons by Ange)

After Thanksgiving dinner at Perkins, and some sleepy downtime, we saw the new muppet movie as a family and then Mom wanted to go to the mall (the movie ended at 11:40 on Thanksgiving night). So we people-watched all the crazies on Black Friday, ate a pretzel, and found a cool donkey ornament. I wish all the holidays could be like this.

The next day it was time for my ten year high school reunion. And so, to keep things interesting, I got a haircut, the thing you're NOT supposed to do the day of your big important whatever.

This pile is the size of a medium-to-large squirrel.

My kicky new do and our bitchin' wood panel basement bathroom. I am blocking a creepy clown light switch. You're welcome.

It was amazing to see everyone. I mean this in the least catty way possible - and I'm including myself in this - it is incredibly interesting to see the way we all age. I know all the little ways that I'm getting older (ex: I've got a smile line on one side of my mouth but not the other), but I see me every day, so it's different. Seeing all of us age together is like one big amazing brain-fuck.

But that's just surface evaluation. The thing I wasn't expecting is that emotionally it seems like everyone just grew up. Even me, apparently. The person that betrayed me and left me friendless the summer before 9th grade? I had nothing but big hugs for them. Do they really need a speech about how their actions made it really difficult for me to trust other people for the last 15 years? Meh. Someone had to be the first person to let me down.

I'm sure there are exceptions and that some people are dirt bags, but I didn't see any of that. There was an overwhelming sense of collective goodwill, it was really touching.

The next day I woke up at 7 and zoomed up to Buffalo to soak up all the time I could with Emma and her family. I like basking in their warm glowing warming glow. My three short hours there were packed with Tea and muppets and cheese and TOFURKEY (it was delicious) and I love those ladies so much it hurts a little, in that really wonderful way. There was also Nessy, short for Badness, a 12 week-old poodle pup. Oh so sweet and pestery. And, of course, Huckle, the older pupper who was having NONE of what Nessy was dishing out. It was pretty great. At 2:30 it was time to bid adieu to B-lo and head east to my most favorite hill in the world, Ithaca.

Saturday was one huge sublime experience. After a lovely time in Buffalo, I finished listening to Michael Palin's autobiography on the way to Ithaca. I got to chat with Frank (one of my very favorite activities period) and then it was off to his friend Stephanie's house for a surprise birthday party in her honor. The house was tucked away on a hill (every house in Ithaca is on some kid of hill) between the Commons and IC. We got there and I met a slew of the nicest and most interesting people. It really made me miss Ithaca. Farmers/Enologists and their family, physicists, vet students, meat from THE PIGGERY, and 4 cats. Yes, this house qualifies for Crazy Cat Lady status (4 cats or more). Remember kids, the third cat is the gateway cat. We spent about 5 hours over there (the last 1.5 looking for a cat that had escaped) and it was all just superlatively wonderful.

The next day Frank and I had super delicious brunch at Cafe Dewitt and then it was up to Cornell for emotional exhaustion (this was the first time I was back to school since I graduated). The neatest advancement is surely the new architecture building Milstein Hall from the mind of Rem Koolhaas.

We entered through the basement.

Space age!

Love the holes in the poured cement.

Inside the inner dome.

Outside the inner dome.

The most genius bathrooms.

Token reflection-y shot.

There is so much I'm not showing. The huge open studio space (I liked my 3 walls in painting thesis studio, though), the amazing conference room, the bouncy bubbles, the CANTILEVER. It's so neat to experience in person. However, it does make the foundry across the road feel super squished - stuck between a gorge and a fancy new building.

Later that night I took my leave of Frank and made the 5 hour trip home to Boston. Final mileage? 1334 miles in 6 days.

Love,

Tania

P.S. My favorite random moment of home? The odd grave my grandmother's neighbors made for a piece of roadkill. Mom's little cadaver friend apparently was there for a while before mom finally told dad to get rid of it. Here's the grave after her little friend was "evacuated".

Kid things

2011-12-26T14:43:00.003-05:00

I wonder what thoughts feel like to other people. When I get nostalgic, the first thing that washes over me is the time of day of the memory. It's incredibly pervasive. When I think about Glenwood Middle School and walking from the classrooms to the gym, I can feel the afternoon sun pouring through the courtyard windows and onto the lockers outside the Home Ec. room.

I think of one of my favorite memories of childhood - in my mom's lap on the swingset in our backyard staring up at the branches of the ash tree whooshing by - and I wonder if other people feel love and wonder and motion the way I do.

When I was young, mom and I spent a good amount of time in the yard planting flowers, picking up sticks that had fallen in storms, raking leaves. Or if there were no yard tasks, I was outside anyway. I would "paint" on the asphalt driveway with a bottle of water and watch my drawings disappear in the summer heat or I would play "fishing" in a bucket with my little plastic fishing rod, fish, and boot. Something I remember so clearly (and I still feel this fascination) is that whenever we were using the hose, I would LOVE to spray it into a bucket and it was so loud. It was the loudest sound I think I could make, but if you put the nozzle under the water it was silent. And if you kept moving the nozzle from under the water to above it, well, that made the coolest noise of all. How does something as simple as an inch of water silence such a huge rush of sound? That's bananas.

That's all from deep thinky Tania for now.

Love,

How well do you know your Tania?

2011-12-26T10:59:00.003-05:00

Which thought garnered the most enthusiasm this morning?

A) It's the day after Christmas, look at all this loot.

B) It's the day after Christmas and I get the day off work.

C) HOLY FUCK, IT'S NEW 2-in-1 SHAMPOO DAY!!!!

Love,

Tania

Duck, duck, HOOT BAT!

2011-12-21T21:23:00.004-05:00

I know that I have updates to post from way back in November, HOWEVER Christmas ornament mugshots are very hard to pass up.

This one's my favorite. He lives at the tippy top of the tree, just below the star. I love to imitate him, he's very muppety.

Originally gifted as a bookmark, Lil' Cat runs things at the bottom of the tree.

Sad Bear Star. Need I say more? Phenomenal.

New this year from Target of all places. I call him Hoot Bat because I can't really decide what he is.

Golly, I love Christmas.

Love,

Tania

With great conferences

2011-12-04T09:44:00.001-05:00

Come great big blue bears.

Winter is coming

2011-12-04T09:42:00.001-05:00

Landed in Denver yesterday and FINALLY I'm getting a taste of winter. I missed both the mountains and the snow so much!

Fact

2011-11-20T22:42:00.001-05:00

This is going to sound dark, but I really don't think it is.

On one level, we are all alone.

My marriage and friendships are fine, I'm still happy bouncy Tania, but I am also very aware that sometimes it's just me. Me in the big world and the bigger universe, and that's just fine.

Okay, I just wanted to get that out there.

Love,
Tania

I really wanted to steal this.

2011-11-20T22:36:00.001-05:00

Oink

2011-11-20T22:35:00.001-05:00

I had it in my hand and then realized if I bought it, it would be the end of me bring able to eat bacon. And I love bacon. I know that day will come. But that day is not today.

Foreboding birds

2011-11-20T22:31:00.001-05:00

Love it.

Wow, this song is great.

2011-11-14T14:13:00.003-05:00

Runaround Sue by Dion. That chorus is so very catchy.

Love,

Tania

P.S. Mom, it's wikipedia fundraising season again.

Calla got a turkey!

2011-11-12T19:21:00.001-05:00

And I broke 100! We do the Midwest proud.

Lab Magnetic Poetry

2011-11-09T12:03:00.003-05:00

Love,

Tania

Kerwin, this one's for you

2011-11-08T22:38:00.002-05:00

Since you worked next to NEB and AND since you know all about restriction enzymes. This was a note I had from when Agata and I were planning out a cloning experiment.

Not to mention its uber-bitchy cousin Kpn1-HF.

Love,

Tania

October in photos

2011-11-08T22:25:00.005-05:00

October was a lot of things.

It was playing board games with Agata while she was waiting for baby'o'clock.

It was building Halloween costumes and remembering the ecstatic possibility of arts & craft stores.

It was clever, half-assed costumes.

And real costumes.

It was ordering questionably named lab supplies (those are pipette tips).

It was CIRCULAR WALL PLANTS

and taking sunset walks with Agata.

It was fall footwear and wacky bags.

It was CATFORT!

(There's a plank on top that runs to a high up windowsill over the bed, we call it the Skyway.)

It was making paintings for Agata and Casey's nursery.

Don't forget the sleepy buns.

HOOT. That is all.

It was a psychedelic 3D wolf with glasses, because why not?

And, of course, it was pumkins! Julian made this one in the style of the original jack-o-lanterns.

Love,

Tania

On Mommer

2011-11-08T08:37:00.005-05:00

Mom just texted me that the book fair is going on right now at Robinwood Lane, my elementary school. Among the many, many reasons to love my mom, I just want to mention one today.

Reason #437: Blank checks for book fairs

I remember a couple weeks before the annual book fair we would get THE CATALOG. Each year, I would pour over every page on my own circling and starring items, and then mom and I would look through it together. Book fair day felt like I got to meet all my heroes at once. I knew they would be there, I saw them in the catalog and then THEY WERE THERE. Shiny and new and smelling amazing and full of stories and pictures and intrigue. I had read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Super Fudge, but what was Fudgeamania, who was Margaret, and why did she want to talk to God? I discovered Calvin and Hobbes at my 6th grade book fair.

This is a book I bought that day.

And through all of this, mom knew I flipped my shit when it came to books and since parents didn't go to the book fair with you, she sent me out in the the world (of fifth grade) with a blank check. One year I think I spent $80 on books. And it was amazing. And I read every one. And it meant so much.

Here's to you, mommer, I hope there is some other kid out there today walking around with gobs of money in his pockets and a towering stack of book to bring up to the register.

Love,

Tania

O Boardman High, we pledge our love unending...

2011-11-02T16:51:00.003-04:00

Hello! To all my BHS alums looking to catch up, here's the rewind of the last decade in Taniatown. You have a choice between:

The elevator version (or Fast-mo for those who had Mr. Dipasqua for math) - I got went to art school, moved to Boston, got married, spent the last 5 years working for a film festival in my spare time and for reals I do science.

The 2 subway-stops together version (Medium-mo) - I went to Cornell University and started getting a dual degree in archaeology and art and then switched to art completely, not wanting to catalog pottery for the rest of my days. I met my husband in my second year, got to live for a semester in Italy, graduated with a B.F.A. and moved to Boston. I very happily floundered for a year and worked at a bookstore, a coffee shop, a clay studio, an art house cinema, and a fancy pants secretary. We got married. Then I started doing marketing, had an epiphany after a year, and went back to school for science. A year later I entered into a master's program in marine science and graduated a year ago. Now I am a lab manager at Brandeis University where I do neat science with flies, fly cells, and bacteria. For the last 5 years I've worked for a film festival and we have 2 cats.

The god-DAMN you're narcissistic version (Slow-mo) - College was amazing. I loved my professors, I got to take oodles of classes (handguns, fencing, cryptography, geology, astronomy, and, okay, lots of art, archaeology, and anthropology courses), and I had the BEST job - projectionist at the Cornell Cinema. My love of film had a home, and for four nights a week, I got to watch different movies from all genres and corners of the world. It was five years of really hard work, breathtaking scenery, and great flicks. For the spring semester of 2005, I was in Italy studying painting and drawing with the rest of my classmates. We were based in Rome, but traveled all over the country and it was just amazing. I met Julian during my second year, he graduated during my third year, and so when I graduated in May of 2006, we had been engaged for a couple years, and I moved to Boston to live with him. Woot!

Ithaca was so different from Boardman, and Boston was so different than Ithaca. I love our little big city. I moved here and didn't really know what I wanted to do with my degree, other than I did NOT want to get a Master's degree in art. So I did the thing that everyone does when they don't know what to do ... GET THREE PART TIME JOBS! It was great, really. I would bounce between selling tickets at the Coolidge Corner Theatre (I would work there part time for 4 more years because I loved the people and the theatre so much), selling books and working on the Children's section at Trident Booksellers and Cafe, and helping people paint pottery at the Clayroom. It was great and free and I was gathering all these mad skillz. After a year of booksbooksbooks, I heard the owner saying terrible things about the wait staff behind their backs, so I quit. Nuts to that. I next fulfilled a little personal dream of mine and learned how to be a barista at the L'Aroma Cafe down the street from the bookstore. It was great! Also, delicious. Three months later, my left knee took affront to all the up-and-down and standing for 8 hours. It was time to move on, this time to a desk job (LAME!). I temped at a staffing agency and got to work at some of the fancy pants financial firms downtown. One of the places I temped needed help in their marketing department, so I got hired for reals. I was, indeed, a cubicle monkey.

After a year I had an epiphany during our honeymoon in Hawaii. Right, back up, I got married to Julian in September of umm...2007! We had the ceremony by ourselves and a justice of the peace on the seashore in Maine. A month later with threw a big shindig at the Somerville Theatre for all our friends and family who would have been invited to the wedding had it been public. It was great. Okay, so, yes, we went on our honeymoon the following spring. It was all the things you could hope for and AND at some point I realized that a very well trained monkey could do my marketing job and that this was NOT what I wanted my contribution to society to be. I'm still very happy that I went to art school, but I don't want to do it for a living. I do it for fun!

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. Hawaii. Seahorses. Science. I decided that I sure did love bio in high school (shout out to Doc Shive) and I was good at it and I think that that is a way I could try to help the world. So I quit my day job and spent the next year taking science classes with undergrads at Suffolk University. Chemistry, physics, calculus, genetics, general bio, botany, etc. as the older married lady smartypants (some things never change, friends) with the pink streaks in her hair (and some things do). After a year of that I entered into a master's program involving lots of intensive classwork, lots of research and experimental design, and AND SCUBA diving. Tales of my time in the Three Seas program at Northeastern University can be found here, my blog of that crazy year. I did lots of science, learned all about statistics and molecular biology, and got to live (AND DIVE!) in Moorea (the island next to Tahiti in French Polynesia) and Friday Harbor (Puget Sound, WA). It was a phenomenal experience and it was followed up by 6 months of focused experiments at the New England Aquarium under the guidance of the amazing and incomparable Dr. Randi Rotjan. For my Master's thesis I was interested in the stress responses of Atlantic cod to ship noise pollution. Long story short, we were unable to detect an elevated stress response in the presence of ship noise, but primary hormone levels vary so widely between individual fish that the sample size of 50 fish was to small to detect significance of this parameter. It was a hard, but great learning experience, but I'm done working on vertebrates.

That ended in December of last year. For the last 11ish months, I've been working at Brandeis University for the out-of-this-world-awesome Dr. Avi Rodal. I love my job. I get to do the managerial things that some part of me really enjoys, and I get to do SCIENCE! We study the movement of materials into cells (a process called endocytosis) in the neurons of fruit flies. One of the big picture ideas behind our work is that defects in endocytosis are implicated in lots of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), so hopefully someday some of the discoveries we make will help THE WORLD understand more about these diseases, part of what causes them (very enormously complex and different for each one), and what can help. We're not making cures and doing clinical tests, but we are doing the beginning steps of the many years of science that comes before all of that.

What else? Ummm... Julian! Julian is getting his PhD in molecular and cellular bio at Brandeis. He has red hair and is tall and likes puns, too. He taught me to ski. We like to play board games and watch British television and sometimes play World of Warcraft and cook (mostly him) and be very nerdy. I still work for the Independent Film Festival Boston every year (spring) as their volunteer director. We have two cats - Hannah and Sami - they're the bees knees. We're going to try to have kids soon. I think that's it. In general, I love this whole Being An Adult thing. It's really fantastic.

---

Did you make it all the way to the end? Yay!

Love,

Tania

Oh, lab meeting.

2011-11-02T09:35:00.001-04:00

Two fun quotes from lab meeting a couple of weeks ago, both from Avi:

"Bad scientists only talk about their own data."

and

"There is no escaping responsibility."

I love my boss.

Love, Tania

Grampa

2011-11-01T17:21:00.004-04:00

When I was 10, my grandpa died. And mom was there with him. In the course of today's chats with mom, and there were a couple, we were talking about the day he died and she told me his last words to her before his heart shut down, which I had never thought to ask. He said, "I feel like I just got out of the shower."

Now, if that isn't one of the nicest, calmest things you can think of to have for your final thoughts, I don't know what is. That's the kind of thing I would wish for everyone. And I'm so happy for him in retrospect. And I miss my grampa, but more than that, I feel so bad for my mom because she has to miss her dad.

Love,

Tania

Autumn's second best friend (after me)

2011-10-27T23:26:00.001-04:00

Is winter! We're moving right along! Look at that snow. I love this time of year.

The Halloweenification of my bay

2011-10-24T10:08:00.001-04:00

I am THIS EXCITED for the Sting concert

2011-10-21T19:42:00.001-04:00

Our science is so lovely

2011-10-18T11:30:00.001-04:00

On sharpies

2011-10-17T09:40:00.001-04:00

I feel very lucky to have worked in the two fields for which Sharpie markers are key tools - art and science. There's nothing quite like waiting for that greasy sheen of black to dry on your fly vials. Every mark is like a edict laid down in Space and Time.

This be ye olde dog fort

2011-10-16T22:24:00.001-04:00

Fishicus renaissancii

2011-10-16T22:23:00.001-04:00

One ring to rule them all

2011-10-16T22:22:00.001-04:00

Tootsies

2011-10-16T22:20:00.000-04:00

I LOVE Ren Faire humor

2011-10-16T16:20:00.001-04:00

This is what I look like on the inside

2011-10-16T14:46:00.000-04:00

Stardust and autumn leaves

Don't look a gift-tardigrade in the snoot!

2011-10-15T21:35:00.001-04:00

True story

2011-10-10T00:20:00.000-04:00

The water on my shirt looks like a partridge!

Hannah Elizabeth Jane Bananapants Jones

2011-10-10T00:18:00.000-04:00

Goodbye, Steve

2011-10-05T20:57:00.001-04:00

Everyone and their mom is going to put this quote out there, but just in case my mom hasn't seen it:

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

- Steve Jobs from a Stanford Commencement Speech

Love,

Tania

What I learned today...

2011-10-04T21:04:00.004-04:00

LARVAL DISSECTION! For the laypeople out there, that means fileting and pinning open maggots FOR SCIENCE.

Instructional video HERE. Don't know if you all can view it without and institutional subscription. Someday I'll film my own!

If I do it right, it should look like the thing on the left. The larva on the right has its neurons (I think) marked with GFP.

Not my photo

Eventually I'll be looking for structures called NMJs (or neuromuscular junctions) that's where the neuron interfaces with the muscle and tells it what to do.

SOON.

Love,

Tania

Why I love the Rodal Lab, reason #58

2011-10-04T20:58:00.000-04:00

A whole spectrum of tape! 4 more shades are on the way.

Tania does California! (Part 4)

2011-10-01T00:27:00.005-04:00

So, if you were wondering why there were so few photos of us on our vacation, the reason is because we had another visitor with us that we had to keep a secret. This is NOT CODE for me being pregnant. Because I'm not.

It was a chicken. His name is Beyonce. His origin story can be found here.

The Original Beyonce from The Blogess

Avi found this months ago and was beside herself with whimsy and hilarity. When something makes Avi happy, it's hard not to want to give Avi that thing, but not only are five foot tall metal chickens REALLY hard to find (oh, we looked), but they are also very expensive to buy and even MORE expensive to ship.

So, when Julian spotted a three foot tall doppelchicken (chickenganger?) on the FIRST DAY (!) of our trip, we bought it immediately and took it everywhere with us. For the travels of our Beyonce Jr., click here. Upon return, Beyonce Jr. and the photojournal were given to Avi. Our presents were received with superlative delight. Mission success.

He made a fantastic vacation EVEN BETTER.

Love,

Tania

It's here!

2011-10-01T00:19:00.000-04:00

Welcome to October, my most beloved month!

Love,

Tania

Tania does California! (Part 3)

2011-09-29T19:28:00.002-04:00

For the last leg of our trip, we joined up with Chris and Steph again. I might get the following events slightly out of order. For the days which weren't devoted to one big thing, we went lots of little places, and it's harder to remember which place we went to on which day.

So, in a rough particular order:

Chris took us to his lab as UC Santa Cruz - GO SLUGS! Seriously, best mascot out there. It's a gorgeous, huge campus that overlooks the ocean.

Next to the campus is the Henry W. Coe state park, full of redwoods. Also, I should take this moment to point out that in addition to all the predictable redwoods, central California forests are full of ... eucalpytus trees! They're everywhere. Who would have thunk it? Their peeling bark is really quite lovely (like my two other faves, birch and aspen), but I could never really smell them like I expected I would be able to. Apparently when they catch on fire, the sap boils and they explode. Yikes. Tree bomb.

Anyway, redwoods are as huge and awe-inspiring as I had expected. They trump the mighty Douglas fir. I was impressed.

So tall! And that's a little one.

There was also a steam-powered railroad and little frontier town in the park, and therefore this neat railroad bridge! It was slightly Stand By Me-esque. Beneath it about 40 feet down was a pretty little river full of fish. It was so lovely.

We also stopped by Capitola, a little seaside town with super tasty pizza, super tasty ice cream, and a nice beachy boardwalk on which to consume both. :)

At some point we swung home and on the way visited a ... ahem ... cement ship. Sounds like exactly what it is, and sea birds loooooooooove it. Wow, does it smell bad. Here, taken from far away, is a photo through the binoculars of a pelican congregation. Excuse me, a gulp of pelicans.

I was looking forward to Friday a whole hell of a lot - WINE COUNTRY! We got up early and drove on up to Napa Valley! It was fantastic. The first place we stopped was Grgich Hills, a winery that made my favorite chardonnay. And yes, very wow.

Next up was Louis Martini, a winery that was great, but not high profile, and AND one of Steph's sorority sisters from Cornell works the tasting room there. Their reds were super delicious and we got lots of personal attention, also, K.T. knows her wine. It was fantastic. Then we moseyed on down to lunch and then over to Sonoma Valley and Ledson Winery. It was a great, tasty day and on the way home we stopped in Palo Alto to have dinner with another science friend. It was delicious, and then there was blood orange gelato (my vacation from ice cream, if you will).

Saturday was our last full day on the West Coast, so we headed very far south to the land of Big Sur. We drove a little over 2 hours to get to Hearst Castle in San Simeon. This place was amazing, partially because of the sheer scale and decadence, and partially because William Randoloph Hearst and his architect Julia Morgan had really good taste. This is the front entrance to the main house.

A ton of the exquisite art and architecture inside actually comes from Europe. WRH paid for them to be shipped over here from Europe. Here how the tour went, "The super fancy thing you're looking at/walking on is ______ many centuries old and was brought here from some super snooty famous place." It was amazing. This dining room was used as part of the inspiration for the Hogwarts Castle dining room in the HP series and those flags? They're from the Italian city of Siena, from the yearly horse race, the Palio. It's been going on since MEDIEVAL TIMES.

The pools were even cooler than the tapestry filled house! Here's ONE of them, the neptune pool. I wish I could have found a way to accidentally fall in, but I didn't have the nerve. It must have been amazing to swim in that. Like little orphan Annie on the great big pool that Daddy Warbucks had. Bananas, indeed.

I loved, LOVED, that he had his own private theatre. We got to even see some of the home movies that he shot on it starring friends like Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, and his mistress Marion Davies.

Also, this plant was totally ridiculous.

Don't forget the indoor pool.

On our way out, we drove by a beach on route 1 that had had elephant seals on it when we passed on the way in earlier. No longer on a strict schedule, we stopped by and Chris got some amazing photos of the males fighting.

RAWR!

The next day was packing up and chilling at the house before our flight late that night. It was such an amazing trip, and we were able to pack in a ton of sightseeing, eat lots of good food, and relax with our good friends. Oh and I finally beat the single player mode in Portal 2 and read a book and a half.

Hooray for California!

Love,

Tania

P.S. But there's still one part left - surprise

P.P.S. Second choice for made up collective noun - a parcel of pelicans

Tania does California! (Part 2)

2011-09-28T19:30:00.000-04:00

The next two days we would be on our own exploring the California coast to the North! The wild frontier. Our first stop was the Mystery Spot - admission is only $5. It's a 40 min. guided tour. Our guide told some great bad jokes, and honestly it was worth the $5.

Above: One of my favorite poses. Below: Look at all the gravity!

The next stops were an IN-N-OUT Burger and the Winchester Mystery House. The former was super delicious (I broke my no beef rule, sorry moo cows) and the latter was like being inside the head of a crazy person - staircases ending in walls, windows in the floor, an ornate cut-glass front door that was only used once. Odd and awesome. Afterwards, we drove north into Oakland and took the Bay Bridge over to San Francisco! Our first stop, because the afternoon was young, was the Haight-Ashbury district. It was very groovy and happy and tasty. Here I am with a sidewalk dinosaur.

We had crepes and lattes, I found a neat bag at the army surplus store, hit up Amoeba Music, and rode the peaceful vibes over to the painted ladies in Alamo Square. I could live in SF soooooooo easily. When I was in middle school, I used to think it looked like the happiest place on earth. Guess what 12 year-old Tania? You were right. Oh! Also! We passed by the Red Vic, a famous art house that I wish I could have seen before it was forced to close its doors earlier this year. Sad face.

By this time, it was nearing the din din hour, so we headed over to the Mission (it's a district) and got some killer Peruvian food at Limon. We had ceviche, beef empanadas, tuna tartare, and this amazing garlicky thing called Chicharron de Pollo. All kinds of awesome. The we hit up the Bi-Rite Creamery for the best ice cream of the trip. I had salted carmel and brown sugar with ginger caramel swirl. I was close to tears when there was no more left.

Oh, and there were beautiful stenciled koi graffiti everywhere. It was so lovely! With that we were beat, that was a whole hell of a lot to fit into one day, so we drove to our hotel and crashed.

Waking super-refreshed the next day, we headed downstairs to the lobby for a complimentary breakfast (score!), and then headed over to the waterfront (tourist central) to start Day 2 in SF. We walked around from pier to pier gawking at all the sea lions (I'm a cheap date), and made our way toward pier 33 and our boat ride to Alcatraz!!

I'm on a boat!

Thar she is in all her weird, infamous glory. It's part of the park system now and there's lots of nesting seabirds on the island. Yeah, it's pretty great. Almost even greater is looking back at the city. Look at those radiating spines where the streets crest over the hills of town. I just love it so dearly.

We didn't take any of the "OH NOES! I'm behind bars!! Whatever will I do?/ I AM A BADASS!" photos, so instead here is an instructional bird sign.

Oh, those birds. It was really neat to see the grounds of Alcatraz (the Rock is one of my favorite action movies.) There were even some volunteer gardeners there that attempt to maintain the gardens on the ground, originally grown by the families that lived there. Neato! After a few hours in the middle of SF Bay, we hopped on a boat back in and walked on down to Chinatown. There we found delicious lunch, sub-par bubble tea, dried sea horses (blech), and a My Neighbor Totoro wall hanging. I bought that faster than ... something involving a cheetah. It was amazing. On the walk back to the Marina we hit up a tiny, tasty espresso stand and then laid down in a park and watched the Golden Gate Bridge and the tall ship at dock and the swimmers (!). Oh and we met some fish.

Glub, glub.

After stopping by the Ghiardelli store/restaurant and their seemingly endless supply of free samples, we walked back to the car and then headed back South to the foggy land of Aptos. Dinner that night was ribs (OMG RIBS) and cornbread. Chris and Steph also sold us on getting a slow cooker. NOM. Then ice cream, the hilarious cartoon show Archer, and bed.

Phew. I get tired thinking back on it all. And happy.

Love,

Tania

Avi's way of signaling us to do some genomic DNA preps

2011-09-27T23:44:00.000-04:00

0% passive-aggressive, 100% hilarious.

I love my boss.

Contestant #2 for best bumper sticker of the year

2011-09-27T23:42:00.000-04:00

Tania does California! (Part 1)

2011-09-25T13:15:00.013-04:00

This was the first weekend in months that there were no things outside the normal weekend docket (laundry, vacuuming, fly work, etc. ) that needed to be arranged, attended, or seen to. Saturday I did positively nothing overly productive and it was wonderful. And so now, on this hazy Sunday (where did my beautiful autumn weather go? It was nearly scarf season!), I can attend to the blog posts that have been stewing for the last few weeks. Most importantly, a recap on our vacation to central California. Well, I got through resizing and uploading photos, text will have to wait until ...Tuesday night! But now, back to the story of California.

Our journey begins! We left on a Saturday evening, but before we boarded our flight two important things happened. 1) I bought the sequel to Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, on our iPad and 2) we had din din at Legal Seafoods in Terminal C (my favorite terminal, housing Jetblue, Legal, and the FUDGE BAR). We got an awesome window seat in the restaurant that also had an outlet (super score!), and I watched all the hub-bub and hatch-battening going on outside (Hurricane Irene had almost hit New England.) It was then that I noticed the Lonely Green Suitcase.

And like all neglected things (think Tearwater Tea by Arnold Lobel, Mom) I felt bad for it.

But after being put on and immediately taken off a number of trucks, finally some pickup took it to its ultimate destination. Tragedy averted ... this time. Anyway, it was an exciting flight, watching all the live coverage as the hurricane hit the mid-atlantic region and then a bunch of reality TV - because I could! Thanks Jetblue, you remind me all at once why I love and hate television. We arrived in the Golden State none the worse for wear (the Back to the Future trilogy was on TNT) and our friend Chris picked us up at the space-age San Jose airport. We headed "home" to the town of Aptos, CA, made some super tasty sandwiches and fell the fuck to sleep. Chris and his wife Steph have two cats, Penny and Simon, and apparently both take after Hannah in the age old practice of sleeping behind my knees. Love it.

The next day we 1) SLEPT IN and 2) headed on down/inland to San Juan Bautista. Oh, right, and Steph ran a half -marathon. Yeah, she's hardcore. By the time we got up and about, it was time for lunch, so after the hour-ish drive to the little town, we had the most tasty mexican food. I suspect I will never have as tasty margaritas or guacamole for a long time. Also, I take photos of lost of random stuff.

And I sort of look like a tool in the process, but they usually turn out pretty nicely. As you can hopefully see here - the big white cactus flower I was photographing in the previous picture.

We were bummed to have left the polaroid at home, so our iPhones served as cameras for the most part. I've also included here some photos that Chris took on his lovely digital SLR camera.

We headed into the mission after lunch and I was hell bent on find the tower from Vertigo only to discover ... it wasn't even around when Alfred Hitchcock was making the film. Le Sigh. Still, very cool, nifty architecture, yard full of chickens, all the good things

Yup, no tower there.

Inside the church itself there were some pretty neat impressions in bricks that cooled in the sun hundreds of years ago. On the way out Julian found some confusing restrooms.

After that was ice cream and a fun ride home. Ice cream was a theme and I think we had it almost everyday with few exceptions. God, I love vacation. We got home, ate some super tasty chili, watched a little Life on Mars (because Chris and Steph had never seen it) and then headed off to sweet, redeeming vacation sleep (i.e. no alarms or hungry, whining cats). It was wonderful.

On Monday, Steph had to work, so Chris, Julian, and I headed south along the coast to Monterey. First stop: a pier FULL of sea lions!

I was all about that - no surprises there. We then headed down to the waterfront, got clam chowder AND CARMEL CORN, and then drove to the *clap clap clap* AQUARIUM!!!

I've read about it for YEARS. It was amazing to finally see it. Wow. Just wow. They are lucky to have a building with windows (I love you, NEAq). It was so amazing. The coolest exhibits by far were the huge kelp forest and the open ocean exhibit. And AND they had AN ALBATROSS! AHHH! I did my final presentation in Marine Birds & Mammals class on the wandering albatross!! That family of birds, the tubenoses, is among the most amazing of birds. Makana at the aquarium in a Laysan albatross.

At one point she even spread her wings all the way out - they were soooo long! It was so *literally* awesome. These animals normally don't see land for weeks at a time. Amazing. We also stopped by Point Lobos state park to dork around the intertidal (show me Pisaster!)and the little, fancy-ass town of Carmel. We had ice cream in Carmel. Yum. Also, and this one is from Camilo and Mom, I was accosted at every street corner by silkworms hanging down from trees. I started going a little batshit. Then home for more delicious home cooked food (I think this was pork chop night), and Life of Mars, and kitties and Zzzzz.

And now for tonight, zzzz for me as well. More soon!

Love,

Tania

P.S. 7-ish more days of adventure-telling ahead!

Happy anniversary.

2011-09-22T22:14:00.001-04:00

After a super delicious anniversary fondue dinner (thanks so much, mom), we were driving home and I was playing some of our most beloved songs in the car. Julian and I were singing along and it was dark and the breeze was cool and the music was so lovely.

Sometimes I try to hold moments in my mind - to burn them into my memory so that I can always go back there when things get hard. Things have never been hard, but someday they will be. Very, very hard.

Our future is full of dead cats and sagging tissue and children that will one day discover deceit, and I want sunsets and perfect moments and calm underwater time to store up and counter all that bad stuff. I know that's not how this whole thing works, but it's hard to just let the beautiful moments of life just flow through you.

But that is the best feeling,though. Feeling the fulness of love for someone else and letting it go, like a deep breath moving out of your body and into the immensity of the atmosphere, and getting lost and mixed with all the other breaths out there. I love you, Julian.

Love,
Tania

Finally ... it's FALL!

2011-09-16T08:06:00.002-04:00

Today feels like the real first day of autumn. I was actually cold walking to work, and not the fake A/C cold, but the "everything is cold, and it's cold WITH me" kind of cold. I missed that so much.

Soon ... cider!

Love,

Tania

California Fact 2

2011-09-03T15:28:00.000-04:00

At Napa. Smelling the various fruits and spices in the wine. Did you know that vanilla beans smell exactly like My Little Ponies? Fact.

California Fact #1

2011-08-28T15:08:00.003-04:00

The California State Sewage System is powered entirely by Herons and wading water fowl.

Love,

Tania

Disclaimer

2011-08-28T15:07:00.003-04:00

Since this trip marks the first time I've spent more than 12 consecutive hours in California, I will assume that all the things that I discover in this trip are typical of the entire state at all times.

Love,

Tania

Our lab loves memes

2011-08-28T15:02:00.002-04:00

Especially from Hyperbole and a Half. Especially this one:

Julian put this on our ordering whiteboard.

Love,

Tania

P.S. And we love this one, too.

Agata's artistic prowess

2011-08-18T09:59:00.001-04:00

Okay, yes, we had a bat in the apartment. It was successfully freed. More importantly, Agata draws the cutesy dopey bats!

Love,
Tania

Tape and a razorblade

2011-08-11T21:04:00.001-04:00

Love,
Tania

Hit me with your best flop!

2011-08-10T16:45:00.003-04:00

Hannah shows us how best to flop on the fantastic rug we got from Randi.

Can you spot the Sam in her favorite new hiding place?

Love,

Tania