To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of people;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;


To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived

This is to have succeeded.

-Bessie Stanley & Ralph Waldo Emerson


Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Spring 2010 Recap




In a word, this spring has been hectic. (Hence, no blog posts, I'm afraid to say.) At the end of March, spring quarter at TCC started. Due to the morning section of Microbiology I got into, I had to switch my work schedule from working days (6am-2pm) to evenings (2pm-10pm). I also took Psych 100 online, which offered some flexibility in my schedule, but still taxed what little time and energy I had left. (I have never done so much busywork for a 100 level class!) My days went a little something like this: I get up and go to either Micro lecture or lab, come home, feverishly work on psychology until I had to leave for work, work until 10pm, come home, watch some late night TV to wind down, and finally crawl in bed with my husband whom I probably had barely seen in the last few days. Needless to say, I was spread too thin doing to many things. We've decided that it is best for me to take only one class at a time while working full time...and then I might even have to go down to working on call while I take A & P later on this year. At the top is a sample of some of the work I did in lab in Microbiology. (A culture of my lab partner's earlobe bacteria, Bacillus cereus, a microscopic view of my bacteria taken from my fingernail, Micrococcus luteus, and a pic of my lab partners inoculating various bacteria.)

Despite our stressful lives, we still maintained our sense of humor. We decided to dye beer green for St. Patrick's Day (the cashier at Trader Joe's gave me the weirdest look when I told her what our plans were with the amber ale we bought.)


This is our friend Gabri. We celebrated her birthday in March and celebrated her husband's graduation from PLU in May. We love John and Gabri and value their friendship tremendously.

Spring cometh! Around where we live, spring rears it's head in late February, then snows in March followed by weeks of 45 degree days and 75 degree days. I like to call it the adolescence of the year because it just can't make up it's mind about what it wants to do and who it wants to be on any particular day! The Curran Apple orchard nearby our house was in full bloom at the end of April. One Sunday after church, Joe wanted to have brunch outside so badly that he moved our little cheapy IKEA table outside on the patio. And I typically don't have very good luck with planting flowers (gosh darn things don't seem to know how to water themselves!), but I decided our drab little porch and flowerbox needed a little pick me up.