Out with the old and in with the new

At the very beginning of the year my lab moved from our private location on 7th floor to a giant shared lab space on the 8th floor. The lab had been in one place for over 15 years. It was quite an undertaking but we managed to move everything (about 3000 sq ft) in a little over a week. I thought I would share some of our old vs. new space with you.

Keep in mind that the lab was old but it did look a lot better when we were in it! First up my office. I used to have a private office with a great view. Now I have a cubicle:And this is my view:I am really trying to get used to being so out in the open. As you can see from the photo I often look up and find someone else staring back at me. A little strange! Having no privacy has been hard.
The old lab space looking right:Old lab looking left:My old bench:Now it is just holding lots of junk but I used this bench for almost 2 years as a technician. At one point I shared it with Suzan. It was at that bench that we forged our friendship. I have never done lab work in this new space. That is a little bittersweet.
New lab, our benches:We get 10 benches in the new space. This is an example of 1 of our aisles. It is all open concept, no walls, open shelving.
The whole lab:The rest of the lab is common space. It has been hard to get used to and there are all kinds of group dynamics we are still getting the hang of.
Old lunch room:You can't even see the sink, microwave and refrigerator. Lets just say dorm rooms have better kitchens than we did.
New lunch room:We are all so excited to have a full sized fridge and a microwave that actually works well. Not to mention in the new space our entire lab can eat together and we aren't crammed around 1 small table. Though, we do miss the coziness of our old lunch room! (This room doubles as a conference room. You can't see the table but it is huge).
Core:This new space is pretty state of the art. We even have a robotics room.

There are lots of other nice details. We are settling in well so far. My job is not finished however since they are moving 3 investigators into that old lab after a minor renovation and I am coordinating all their moves plus 1 other person going into a temporary space. It has been an interesting experience negotiating all their needs and wants. I hope you enjoyed this little tour!

Valentine's Day

I can't say that I am a big fan of Valentine's Day in the traditional adult sense. I don' t like being told that one day a year I have to express my love for my hubby by purchasing pre-approved items that will cost 4x their normal value. Greg and I don't usually do a whole lot besides maybe cook a nice meal at home or give eachother a card. But I LOVE valentine's day in the child sense. Some of my fondest memories are of valentine's day as a kid. The parties at school, especially when the entire class would make mailboxes for our desks for the big day and we would hand out the little cards in little envelopes (they don't come in envelopes anymore by the way. So sad!) which would have 1 conversation heart candy inside. And at home my mom would give us pink milkshakes for breakfast or leave us a little presents by our beds with a card while we were sleeping and we would wake up to a fun surprise. That is the feeling I tried to recreate last year at work and decided to do it again. Not only for the fun of it but also to create comraudery in our new lab. So I began planning a few weeks ago. Nothing too fancy, just an hour in the middle of the day for a sweet treat.
I baked my Grandmother's awesome sugar cookies and some little cupcakes from a mix. To save time I used canned frosting (dyed one can pink). Used some old sprinkles I had in the cabinet and these adorable little toothpicks I found at a nearby store.I bought a whole bunch of kids valentines and asked people to sign them for me.Suzan made mimosas and we had some candy and fruit thrown in for good measure.
I also made these cute little felt stuffed valentines for the girls on the sewing machine last night. Super easy but really cute.Everyone had a fun time and got a little break from their work. One girl said it was the best valentine's day she'd had in 15 years. That made my day.(Miriam modeling a heart. Her baby is due next week!)
I hope your valentine's day is nice in whatever form you choose to celebrate it!
I love all my blog readers!

Card Tin

I wanted to come up with a fun little gift for Marcela's birthday. I recently purchased a package of little mint tins from Impress and thought of a way to put one to use.

I folded up a long strip of paper and adhered it to the inside of the tin.

When you pull it out you see the full message which I printed on little strips of paper and added flowers, a rhinestone crown, rub-ons and brads before painting the edge with regular brown paint and glitter paint.

It is really pretty simple but a bit more fun than a normal card. Plus I was in a hurry having waited to the last minutes so it came together really quickly. You gotta love fast drying scrapbook paints! Happy Birthday Marcela!

Camera died & Weekend Plans

I had my camera at work all week to take some photos and when I finally got around to it today I found my battery dead. SORRY!!

Instead I will share my oh-so-exciting weekend plans.

1. Working on a little project involving this cutie.(these are pictures of Greg as a kid if you had any doubts or thought perhaps I birthed a blond haired full grown child recently!)

2. Birthday party to attend for this fun girl!(Marcela from work. The party starts at 9pm. I may be a little to old for a party that doesn't even start until 9pm!)

3. Brunch with friends on Sunday.
(Tim and Alison who I don't have a photo of but who we recently cat sat for. We will be going to Brooklyn Label because Greg is obsessed with their Mayan Hot Chocolate)

4. Preparing for my visit to Maine over President's Day weekend to see this little pip who is growing like a weed!(Baby Eileen recently turned 6 months old. My biggest fear is that she has lost that new baby smell, but those chubby cheeks may make up for it!)

Have a super weekend!

Winter?

It is a balmy 60 degrees in New York City today! I left the house with wet hair and a light jacket. Kind of weird really but I love it!

I am in love!!!

And I mean seriously in love. I may leave my husband in order to marry this thing. I recieved many wonderful gifts for Christmas but this one was the most surprising. I had recently picked up a new vegan cookbook and there was a section on tools for the kitchen. The authors are city cooks who have tiny NYC kitchens and when they suggested an immersion blender I thought, hmm, why not. I have every other appliance known to man and I needed a gift idea to pass on to Greg's mom. I didn't even take it out of the box until late Jan. HOW DID I LIVE SO LONG WITHOUT THIS THING????? It is awesome. I have decided if I don't pull out my regular blender in the next 6 months it is going to Goodwill. This little baby is not only easy to grab and use in a pinch but it is also a breeze to clean! Just whiz it in some soapy water, rinse, and detach the end to dry! No huge glass pitcher to deal with. I have been using it all the time for whipping up marinades, blending drinks (even hot cocoa on the stove to a frothy consistency) and it is great for soups. No more transferring batches of hot soup to my blender and making a HUGE mess. This puppy makes creamy soup right in the pot. But my latest use is the world's fastest smoothies in the morning. I invented a new one (well new to me) this morning that was so great I have been dreaming about it all day. With the stick blender I can make the smoothie and clean up in about 2 minutes. Here is my new favorite smoothie recipe for you to try!

Peanut Butter Dream Smoothie
1 whole banana (fresh or frozen)
1+ cups of soy milk (for desired consistency)
1 spoonful of peanut butter
1 pinch of salt (our PB is the hippy kind with no salt or sugar so a little salt helps bring out the sweetness)
1 drizzle of agave nectar (you could use honey or a spoonful of jam!)

Blend until smooth. Drink and enjoy! It tastes like a PB milkshake but much lower on calories. SO DELICIOUS!

Lake Placid

This vacation recap is LONG overdue and for that I apologize. The trip just wasn't that great so there wasn't much to talk about.

In the first part of January we took a trip to Lake Placid for a cross country skiing holiday. Lake Placid was the sight of 2 Winter Olympic games, 1932 and 1980 (made famous when the US hockey team beat the USSR) and has multiple cross country ski areas to choose from including the Olympic x-country trails. We took this trip with our good friends the Campbells and had a lovely condo/time share lined up. It was shaping up to be a great trip......until we arrived that is. We were met with unseasonably high temperatures. The ground was covered in snow (old snow but snow none the less) when we arrived on Sunday night but within a day that snow was gone! No cross country skiing, no ice skating, nothing. We pretty much ate, drank, and watched cable TV. At one point we were going to head home early but there was rumor of a snow storm coming so we stuck it out one more day. It barely rained.

We enjoyed several lovely restaurants, visited all the shops on the main drag, tried to complete a 2500 piece puzzle but failed miserably, and did a little sight seeing.
Our first stop was the Olympic Long Jumping Center where the skiers fly off a super high ski jump to see who can go the farthest. This was probably the highlight of the trip for me. First of all you ride a ski lift up to the jumping complex. I had never been on a ski lift. SCARY! Mostly because my jerk husband started each ride trying to make the chair swing around until I was screaming in terror and then he would stop. Then we got to take an elevator up to the top of the jump and look out over the course. Wow, I always thought the winter Olympics were a little lame and well, easy. How hard can skiing really be when tons of people do it? But man that jump was insanely high. I was impressed. They actually jump in the summer too using plastic mats and a water tank to jump into.
Next we went to the Olympic center and saw the ice rinks were the hockey games and ice skating took place and outside was the melted speed skating oval (closed for skating).

We also tried to take a bobsled ride. They offer them for a pretty hefty fee but hey, we were desperate. When we showed up the first day we were told that a tour bus of people had booked the entire days runs. When we showed up the following afternoon the entire complex was closed due to, get this, inclimate weather! We got to walk around and look at the track but it was deserted.
Behind the jumping complex is the sight of John Brown's farm and grave site. He was a famous abolitionist. That was closed too but we read the plaques and peeked in the windows of his house. The top left photo shows the high jump in the background. It is all you see for miles! The top right is the bobsled track map showing the track and which parts were built and used for which Olympic games and also showing the most famous bobsled curve in the world.

At one point we even decided to go up to Whiteface mountain where they do downhill skiing and take a gondola ride up and down the mountain. When we arrived we found the lodge completely dark. Turned out they had lost power on the mountain and the entire place was shut down for the day. We couldn't win for losing!
The rest of the trip was spent shopping at Price Chopper (they have EVERYTHING you need says the receptionist), cooking yummy dinners, and enjoying the fireplace. Needless to say not the best ski trip we have ever taken and we were happy to be home. The only good part really was getting to hang out with our friends. These photos show the huge condo we stayed in and our view at the golf course when we left. Not a snow patch in sight.

New Look

I decided the old blog needed a new, softer look. Someday I will figure out how to create my own page but for now I am sticking with templates. You can vote on the side bar whether you like or dislike the new blog!

So cute!

Found this cute photo in my inbox this morning. William wearing one of the shirts I made for him.
SOOOOOOO CUTE!
I am going to be visiting him and his cute sister in February and I can't wait. They are both so big. Why do kids have to grow so fast?

I made a little onesie for a baby shower this past weekend using the same technique. Unfortunately I forgot to snap a photo and then at the shower forgot again. Oh well!

Bad house guest = good husband

We had a house guest staying with us for a couple days. HE was a friend of Greg's when they were in the conservation program together several years back. The day after his first night with us I went to use the downstairs bathroom and I FELL INTO THE TOILET because our guest left the seat up (this is why I haven't used his name, so he won't be embarrassed when he returns to Indianapolis, the land where they don't put down the seat). It wasn't until that moment that I realized that in the almost 7 years that we have been married, Greg has never once, not once left the toilet seat up. I was so pleased I had to call and tell him right away and then call and thank his mother for training him so well. She denies ever formally training him in this area but I just know she must have taught him this technique during potty training. Me and my dry rear end are eternally thankful!

Happy New Year! 2008

Happy New Year! I hope you all celebrated in some way last night. We spent New Years about the same as last year is turns out. We spent New Years Eve with friends playing games and watching the ball drop on TV and today we packed up the rest of the Christmas decor and cleaned the house. It feels a little empty in here but it is good to have everything neat and tidy again. Greg and I sat down and looked over our 2007 goals and came up with some 2008 goals to focus on this year. Some of the main ones include getting back to eating home cooked dinners again (we have been enjoying the local restaurants a little too much), reassessing our finances now that we are settled into our new apartment and paying more rent, and I want to get back into the saddle with my scrapbooking again. In 2007 I had hoped to scrapbook 52 layouts again but in the end only did 15. That is pretty pathetic! This blog used to be a scrapbooking blog and I hope to at least discuss scrapbooking a bit more again in 2008 as well as other types crafts.

I return to work again tomorrow but the rest of this week is going to be really busy. Greg and I are heading out on vacation again real soon for a cross country skiing trip. So I have just 3 days to get caught up from the last trip and to prepare for the next trip. Don't know if I will get to blog much. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Vacation Video Blogging

Here is my first attempt at a video blog. I had made one video that was great but the resolution was too high and I rambled on so it was almost 400MB and was going to take 20 hours or more to upload. So it was time for a second take. Sorry if I talk too fast and if you can't see the projects. I had to keep the file small. I hope you enjoy it. And here are the projects I mentioned in the vlog. First the stuffed gnomes. They turned out really cute but doing them in miniature size was actually pretty difficult. I may make them again full sized. I especially loved Mr. Gnomes unibrow! And the cute shirts. Not perfect by any means but pretty darn good for my first try. I took a while to get use to using my machine in this way (totally free hand). Next time I may try playing around with the tension to see if my stitches are less wobbly. I used the flash so you could see the stitches a little better.

And as for my Christmas journal, it really only took about 40min on the computer to print out the photos and lists and throw it all together. Here are the contents:
-A recount of how we spent Christmas 07 (great for when I go to scrapbook it)
-Favorite recipes
-Ideas I saw or though of for 2008.
-Gifts given and received. This is great for follow-up gifts next year and not accidentally repeating anything.
-An updated card list
-Photos of Christmas decorations with notes and ideas for next year.
-2007 Christmas card and ideas for the 2008 card.
-All pages have space for more ideas.
My goal is to keep this on the bookshelf so I can add to it any time I want and so I can start preparing for Christmas early which helps me reduce stress.

Christmas Party / Greg's Birthday

We hosted a Christmas party for our communion team from church on the night of Greg's birthday. Greg doesn't like any fuss on his birthday so he was really excited for this party. He said it was great because we were having a big party on his birthday but no one was going to know it was his birthday! No pressure! I did end up spilling the beans during dessert and everyone sang to him but that was about all. It was a really nice time with about 12 people from our team. We visited, snacked, and played some board games. It was our first big party in Sunnyside and the apartment was a great spot for entertaining. My good friend Jin was at the party and was my right hand lady in the kitchen. She took some photos that night and was nice enough to send them to me. Thanks Jin and HELLO!Mingling in the kitchen.Some of the communion team ladies.Lots of yummy desserts!
Singing to Greg. Happy Birthday Baby!

I'm on vacation!

Just as the holiday madness was calming down and December was promising to be a great end to the year, a new project was tossed in my lap at work. They have decided to move our lab up one floor and gave me about 3 weeks to coordinate it all. Plus they are moving 3 labs into our old space which I was asked to help coordinate too. Needless to say I have been extremely busy the last 2 weeks. Add my nasty cold to the mix and I didn't do much else. But today I start 11 straight days away from work. I am so excited! Today we did NOTHING but lounge around, watch Twin Peaks on DVD and take a nap. We had Thai take-out for dinner and are now settling in for more tv and lounging. A perfect start to my vacation.

The Winning Photo

Almost all of my Christmas cards are out in the mail so I guess it is time to show the photo we ended up using this year for our Christmas cards. Remember that it was taken in the cemetery!We are having our first snow storm of the winter right now. They expect 2-4 inches of snow. Have a great day!

Christmas Cards Part 1

Sorry for not posting yesterday. Greg gave me his stupid cold so I have been feeling pretty lousy for a couple days. I did manage to make about 80 Christmas cards last weekend. My card design this year was very simple and was copied directly from the Dec issue of CK (a BH card of course). I made 3 batches of cards:This one was sent out to my BSF group. I shot a photo of my bible and our lesson (instead of a photo of Greg and I). I got this idea from Jeanine Hemminger who gave me a similar type photo many years ago when she was in my BSF group.This next card when out to our communion team. I shot this photo of the Lord's Supper on stage one Sunday last summer after we set it up. We are having our team over next Saturday for a party and will be giving out most of the cards then.

I haven't sent out all our friends and family cards yet but will show that one to you soon. All cards featured a photo, a scrap of Christmas paper, and some paint stamping.

Outtakes

We had a really nice and productive weekend. Well, I did. Greg was sick with a cold so he was productive at napping, sneezing, whining and making me wait on him. Just kidding, he got a lot done too in between the afore mentioned activities!

On Saturday I dragged him out for our annual Christmas photo shoot. This year we made a wonderful compromise. I got my photo shoot and he got to do it in a location he likes... The Cemetery! Hear that Tiff! We don't have a yard anymore, there aren't any nice parks around us, and we waited too long to go far off on location so we headed to our local cemetery. It happens to be a really big one with lots of really old crypts, monuments, and great architecture. Of course I can't share the winning Christmas photo with you just yet but I can share some of the shots that didn't make it onto our Christmas cards this year!
This is a classic Greg shot. Every pose he suggested had us surrounded by headstones. Not really very festive! We didn't use any of those.This shot and the first one were pretty typical. Find a big crypt or mausoleum and shoot by the front door. This one had great oxidized doors and was huge (see last photo) but the light was way too bright by this time and in this shot I didn't get into position fast enough before the camera fired. The first photo may have worked but I would have had to crop out those headstones on the right that sneaked into view.I loved the vines on this really old stone crypt wall but thought this photo was a little gloomy. Not our best expressions either.Greg loved this old iron cross in one of the doorways so we snapped a shot. Would be a good easter photo maybe.One of the really large structures we shot around. There were lots more potential places to take photos but there were many people visiting graves that day and one large funeral going on and we didn't want to offend anyone so we stayed away from those areas. Cemeteries really are nice places to visit. They are quiet, interesting to look at, and often have park areas and water features to enjoy.

After the photo shoot my buddy Peh came over and I edited my photos and we worked on Christmas cards together while watching Pride and Prejudice. It was so much fun to sit up in my studio and chat and work. More about my cards later.

The big push - Weekend plans

My goal is to have the bulk of my Christmas stuff done this weekend. All shopping done. All gifts wrapped and shipped by Monday. All Christmas cards made. I know, I dream big. Some things are 90% done and others 0% done.

Wish me luck!

Christmas Decor Part 2

Second Issue: What happened to the fire place?!
Our old apartment had a fireplace and more importantly a mantle. Much of my Christmas decorating centered around that mantle and fireplace. The new apartment has a staircase so that became the place for the mantle decorations. My garlands were easily adaptable and fit the space marvelously (hard to see but it is greenery and berries). The angel candles obviously couldn't go on the stairs so they ended up on the table instead. The other thing I used to do was frame each years Christmas photo in a small frame ornament and hang it on the mantle garland. We also hung our stockings on the mantle in the old place. I ended up hanging the stockings and the photos on the stairs and it turned out pretty good. Although I do miss my fake crackling fire!

More small details:
We hung our advent calendar and a wreath near the back door. I like this because you can see the calendar from the living room but the decorations are still spread throughout the house.

Another wreath on the front door. It is on the inside. The way our doors are set up there can't be a wreath on the outside of our door because the main front door would brush into it all the time. Therefor this wreath faces into our house.

A little tree by the phone.
Other decor not shown includes:
I had gold stars that hang by gold ribbon in the window of our old living room (5 windows). Well we still have 5 windows in this place, 2 upstairs and 3 down so I hung my gold stars in each one (love it!). They never photograph well unfortunately. We also have electric candles in 2 of the windows. I think I may be 5 single candles and place them in each of the windows. There are also some more little trees in the bedroom and the craft room. That is about it I think. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Decor Part 1

I love Christmas and Christmas decorations. I especially love my Christmas tree and its lights. As this is the first year we are celebrating Christmas in our new apartment I have been challenged to make all my Christmas decorations fit into the new space without having to buy a ton of new stuff.

First issue: Where to put the tree?
We had a few options but it is really important to me to be able to sit near the tree and its lights. We ended up putting the tree between the living room and dining room. As you can see it is too tall to fit IN the doorway so we moved it slightly into the dining room (there is less furniture in there and more room) but tucked it slightly into the corner (hard to tell from this angle). It is perfect. Plus it can be seen through the front windows from there. Here it is fully decorated and under the tree you can see a big green square. That is the album I made last year about the tree's ornaments.

Now for a couple smaller details:

My angel candlesticks, which are out all year got updated with red candles and moved onto the table where they are more visible. The little trees are from the Rafiki store at BSF headquarters. The other item is from Greg's parent's first Christmas as a married couple away from home. They sent it to us on our first Christmas. I need to find some new candles for it.

We set up our nativity on the sideboard. This year I put out a palm tree for fun (we have all kinds of weird "Bethlehem Village" things that were given to use but I like to stick with just the basics).

A couple horses from Greg's childhood are sitting in front of the TV. They used to sit on the ground in front of our old fireplace.

More tomorrow!

Early Christmas Gift

Greg and I had a very nice weekend. Probably the most relaxing weekend we have had in several months. We got a few things done but managed to have time to just sit and relax. Not to mention everything in the apartment is currently WORKING properly which helps too!

I had the opportunity to do a little baking this weekend. We had some leftover pizza dough from the previous 2 nights dinners so I made some cinnamon rolls with caramel sauce. There wasn't a lot of dough just enough for 6 mini rolls. Boy were they good and so easy to make since the dough was done. They hit the spot!

And well, since we like to eat stuff like in the picture above we decided to buy a treadmill this weekend. Now my wrapping paper room is also a home gym. We took my mom's very wise advice and found this one on Craig's list for a fraction of the cost of a new one. It was really hard to get upstairs but luckily our basement neighbor is a young fit guy who helped Greg haul it up the stairs. We have already had a couple good workouts. Hopefully this will help keep the holiday weight gain to a minimum.