How the time flies

I spent the majority of my time today in rehearsal. I'm playing in an alumni concert tomorrow for the Triangle Youth Philharmonic. It's at Koka Booth Amphitheater at 3pm. The repertoire is fairly decent and despite many of us not having played in a while, we sound pretty good. I think that has a lot to do with the many other people who majored in music and have been playing furiously since high school. It should be a good show and the weather will be nice, so you should all come (if you can).

While we were eating the lunch provided for us, they had a slide show of TYP over the years and the many things it has done. It made me think of all the things I did in high school and how it seems an entire lifetime away from now. I know that it was only four years ago that I graduated, but it seems longer. It got me thinking about all the things that have happened to me since high school as well. Here's a run down of the major life events that occurred since high school:

• Graduated
• Went to college
• Got engaged
• Dropped out of school
• Got married
• Went back to school
• Transferred to NCSU
• Started working in a lab on campus
  
• Bought a house

I can't hardly believe it. Looking over the list, I noticed a lot of it is school. It seems that I am forever doomed to be student. Did I tell you I've decided that I want to teach on the university level and do research? I know that deep down, I've always loved school. I didn't always like the hard work associated with with, but I've always enjoyed learning. I'm such a nerd... and proud of it!

So this summer, I'm performing a research project with another undergrad student. We going to be looking at the possible anti-inflammatory effects of purple sweet potatoes.

Cool, huh? It has a lot to do with the anthocyanins that are present in this violet variant. They act as antioxidants, protecting you from free radicals. Any way, it looks like I'll be having a lot of fun playing with my food this summer.

The Fridge is here!!

Our fridge was delivered today! Here are some pictures I took!

Isn't it beautiful? It's a bottom mount fridge!!

It's got a bottom deli drawer and a soda can rack. It's so cool!

It's also got a filtered water dispenser on the inside wall of the fridge. It's kind of weird but I kind of like it. It beats having it on the outside of the fridge. :)

It also has an ice dispenser. *sigh* I'm a happy camper.

Memorial Day

Matt and I went to the beach with some friends for Memorial Day. I'm proud to say that I only got a little crispy. Normally I get burnt on my shoulders and back, but I was really good about reapplying there. I was so good about remembering my shoulders and back that I forgot about my forearms and the back of my lower legs. :) It wasn't too bad though. Matt got a little crispy on his feet... go figure.

Matt and I rented a beach house with Blayke, Eduardo, Scarlett, Nate, Jenny, Josh and Michelle on Ocean Isle. Our house was on a canal a little ways back from the beach which was really cool. We had our own little dock and there were lots of little fishies that loved to eat the bait off my hook. The house was nice, except that there were only two bathrooms. While no one else thought this was a hardship, it seemed that every time I had to use the bathroom, everyone else did, so there was quite a bit of waiting done on my part doing the antsy dance. We were really close to the beach and the weather was relatively mild the whole time. We had a really good time.

On Monday, we bought a refrigerator. We went into Lowes while waiting for a movie to start and we found the perfect fridge. The space we have for the fridge is on the small side and it was really hard to find the fridge that we wanted in the size we had to fill. But there it was. It is a thing of beauty. The only catch is that they were clearing out that model for the new ones and we had to take it right away. So, it's going to sit in the corner of out apartment until we move. :)


Speaking of our move, Matt and I are going to paint our house. Any ideas about the colors? Leave your inspirations in the comments.

We're buying a house!!

I can't hardy believe it, but we're buying a house! Matt and I have toyed with the idea of buying a house for a very long time and we have frequently gone to see houses all over. It wasn't until we started talking about what we wanted to do after our lease was up for our current apartment that we started looking again. We saw the house and loved it! It is close to NC State which is good for both of us (Me with school and Matt for work) and is in a pretty good area. It is, unfortunately in a different ward. I'm a little disappointed because had the house been maybe a couple hundred feet to the west, we would've stayed in the ward boundaries. Plus, Mary and Christian are now in our ward... *sigh* Oh well, we'll just have to make the best of the time we have left and it's not like we'll never see them again. Any way, enough talking! Here's the pictures that were with the listing.





I *LOVE* this kitchen! It's cool and funky and has some pretty awesome details in it. It's a little on the petite side, but it's charm makes up for it!

*sigh* So, that's the latest and greatest! We close on June 30 and take posession at that time. We haven't decided if we'll move in right away since our lease is up technically on July 24th. But I can't wait to not have to worry about the neighbors underneath us or above us or sharing walls with people anymore. :) Hurray!!

Exams

I hate school right now. Ok, so I don't hate school, but I do hate exams! They stink!! I had to take all my exams this semester which normally isn't such a bad thing, except that they have all been HARD! I had food science on Monday, organic chemistry on Wednesday (which I failed), nutrition today (which I did well on), Calculus tomorrow and statistics on Monday. These last two exams should be a little bit easier... Hopefully. :)

Yesterday, as a reward for throughly failing my chemistry exam, I went out to lunch with Mary for her birthday. I have decided that I'm over Olive Garden. I used to think it was a pretty ok place to go eat. I don't know if it's just the fact that everything there really tastes the same or if it's the not so stellar service or what, but I'm over it. I'm not saying it's a bad place to go, I'm just over it. Maybe it's the fact that everyone goes there. Hmmm.... Otherwise, I had a nice time with Mary. It was really awesome to catch up with her now that the wedding craziness is over. :)

In other recent news, Matt and I put an offer on a house on Monday!! We saw the house on Friday and fell in love. It was a wonderful house on a great lot. "Was" being the operative word. Upon further inspection, we saw a lot of things that would have to be replaced with the house (roof, pipes, siding, HVAC - a must in the summer) and that in order for us to come out on top, we'd have to stay in that house for a while. It's not that we have any current plans to move, but you never know what life will hand you. Any way, so when we learned about these, we adjusted our offer accordingly. We offered a good 20,000 less than the list price and was met with a resounding, no thank you. The house was overpriced to begin with too. Any way, let's all have a moment of silence for the loss of the option. :) Any way, we're still looking and hopefully we'll find something soon, as in before our lease is up in July.

I think I've about decided to get my PhD one day. I'm know I was just complaining about school, but I think I want to teach on the university level in addition to doing research. I've been working in a lab on campus and I love it. I don't know that I love it enough to have that be the only thing I do. Any way, I'm not sure if I would do food science or nutrition or both! I don't know! I love them both! Food is so interesting! But so if what the body does with the food!! ACK! *sigh* I suppose that I'll figure it out eventually. :)

Here's a tasty morsel that I will leave you with. It is awesome! :)