Science in action!

Have you heard of Ecospheres? So, this was a gift to my lab from a member who left recently. They are a completely self contained ecosystem with sea water, algae, phytoplankton, and you can see at the bottom 4 tiny brine shrimp. The only thing it needs is light! Pretty neat, and they'll continue to coexist for about 2-5 years according to the manual. The shrimp will never reproduce so the lifespan of the shrimp translates into the lifetime of the Ecosphere.

And, what kind of nerdy lab would we be if we didn't name them appropriately after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? (or the famous Renaissance artists if you want to go with that)

I wish I had gotten a picture of this.

This kid was sitting in front of me in class. Halfway through, I realized what his shirt said on the back. The college A-G requirements. I kid you not. It literally listed "English 4 years, Math 3 years, etc." And the kicker? The very bottom statement.

"Earn a 'C' or better in every class!"

Kid turns around at the end of class, and of course the witticism they printed on the front is "got college?" Who still wears their high school shirt 3 years into college? Yeah, I am occasionally guilty of wearing old tennis team shirts, but this is just appalling.

This is where I work.

10am to 7pm everyday. What's not to love about this job?

Whirlwind Weekend in DC

Just a little taste of a quick trip across the country. Landed Thursday morning, had the day to explore, rehearsal on Friday with rehearsal dinner and bachelorette party following. Saturday was the wedding plus reception, then left on Sunday morning.

A Walk in my Neighborhood

I got off work early today, and played around with my camera for a while. It's amazing how many pictures I can take without realizing it. Good thing I got a 16GB memory card ;)


New herbs for the patio/balcony












pretty little web being spun by my front door.










This little guy was so excited to get out of the car and go to the park.












My favorite part about this sign is the "Free Exercise!"











I didn't even see this until I looked at these pictures on my computer. I was just taking pictures of the clouds for no particular reason, and now I see a familiar face!










Diana lens makes all the sunlight look like twinkly jewels











These are the baby "sunflowers" that we're currently growing on the patio. They're doing admirably considering we neglected a few other potted plants.

Amigurumi Friends: Baby SunGod

This is a cute little guy that I crocheted based off of a 2d graphic. He's the baby version of one of my school's unofficial mascots, SunGod! And, he's less than 4 inches tall, the perfect pocket size.

I like things that are practical.

I think this would be a super sweet hallway table for catching keys, mail, etc. right by the doorway. You get a functional built in ledge to prevent things from falling off, like in an earthquake, as California is prone to have, and you have a pretty little table that is unique.

IKEA Klack Tray
Vineyard Bracket via Anthropologie
Paeonia Wallpaper via Anthropologie

Since I am currently renting the apartment I live at and plan to move out in less than 2 years, I, sadly, have no pictures. This is just a concept that I think would be lovely and fairly easy to do.

I would primer/paint the wooden part of the tray white, sand to distress (to match the brackets), then apply wallpaper to the base of the tray. Add a layer of glass, probably stolen from a picture frame, just to protect the paper. Then mount brackets to wall, and for added security, drill 2 holes for screws into back side of tray to be screwed directly into the wall. This is probably easiest using a tray with straight sides, not ones that slant outward.

Or forgo the wallpapering for a lovely vintage wooden tray like this one on etsy with a hand painted sailboat.