Yesterday, my friends Jen, Faith, and I threw a shower for Helen. In four weeks, she and her fiance Jon (all of us went to college together) are getting married in what will likely be the most gorgeous wedding EVER (and I'm excited because my bridesmaid dress is actually cute). I did the food with some amazing help from Jen (and also ran around playing photographer) and Faith can be thanked for the beautiful chinese paper lanterns, favors, and flowers. So what's a fabulous shower without photos?






















All photos were taken using a Canon 50mm f/1.8, the new love of my life. Thanks for letting us throw such a fun party, Helen! I was barely functional since I had 2 hours of sleep, due to an excrutiatingly early time point in lab, running to pick up cupcakes, and cooking/assembling the food, but it was all worth it - I think it was lovely!

The boy grad student has been away at a three week training course (where they learn to do such things as insert tubing down the spinal cords of mice), but he came home for the weekend. We decided to be deliciously unproductive, and the highlights of the weekend included seeing Batman (go see it!) and noshing at The Counter. I think I could exist entirely on sweet potato fries . . .

This weekend also began the massive monstrosity that shall be known as Wedding Season '08 (and this doesn't include the wedding we already went to). I picked up a bridesmaid dress, dropped off a wedding gift (yay!) and am driving out of town to attend a shower on Tuesday. The shower is for a dear friend who has been a constant companion since we were two years old, so I am excited.

Things I am Loving

It's officially summer. The air is warm, my cardboard-box apartment is hot, and lab feels like a fabulous air-conditioned retreat (did I really just use the words lab and retreat in the same sentence?). In honor of the early days of summer, I have been obsessed with the following in recent days:

This stuff is worth its weight in gold. You can apply in the morning, forget about it during a whole day of bbqing/baseball game watching/beach volleyball playing, and you realize the sun went down and you didn't get burned. One caveat - it is not exceptionally waterproof, so I still stick to Ocean Potion for surfing.















Yummy, no fake additives, and antioxidants, oh my! The male counterpart to the disillusioned grad student's best friend came to visit for four days recently, and stocked our fridge to the brink with these. I am addicted.















It's pink, with a bit of gold, and it's just fabulous. If you know me (which, of course, are the only 3 readers of this blog), you know that I own about 17 Chanel lipglosses. But I've gotta say, this one's been in heavy rotation since the weather warmed up. It's the anti-scientist lipgloss.

I had a hard time leaving the weekend on such a negative note. On a more pleasant note, cupcakes! For an excellent, all-around great cupcake recipe, I love the vanilla one from The Magnolia Bakery. You've got to take precautions to ensure they don't end up dry (leave one cup empty, and fill it with water to create a moist environment), but they really are fab.



Now go bake, kids.

Yesterday I had two appointments. One was at the University Medical Center, and the other was at a spa (down in the land of rich housewives). During the former, I had an appointment with a surgical oncology nurse - I met her, walked with her to pathology, waited for the attending surgeon to meet us, and watched as they dissected a specimen. I have handled more than one hundred tumors in my "scientific career," and they, along with blood draws, do not bother me. However, this was something different entirely. Here's a warning to the weak . . . it gets graphic.

The nurse unwrapped the surgical gauze and placed the specimen on the counter in the pathology lab. It was a complete masectomy, a full resection - in layman's terms, the entire breast had been removed. While standing with the pathology residents, I nearly fell to the floor, wondering, "Don't they usually just remove the tumor nowadays? Isn't the lumpectomy standard, especially at a leading university hospital?" And then, as the Pathology attending made the first slice, I realized why this case was so different.

The tumor filled the breast in its entirety. The tumor was distinct from the healthy tissue - healthy tissue is soft, pink. There was a hard, beige mass approximately the size of an apple that had invaded this 33 year old girl's body - and there was no escaping staring at the tissue on the surgical slab.

After returning to my lab with my small sample of the tumor in tow, I processed my cells, and set them up for my experiment. After wiping down the hood and my lab bench, I placed my cells in the incubator, and left for my bi-monthly pedicure and eyebrow trip. (I may live in the lab, but I do have some standards)

I'd never really noticed it before, but the place was inundated with signs that proclaim, "Love your body! Celebrate your curves! Your body defines you!" As I looked around, I began to feel sick to my stomach. This anonymous 33 year old girl, whose tumor had somehow managed to evade being detected at an earlier stage, had lost most of what these signs declared defined her. As I thought about it, I realized that what defined her, according to the spa advertisements, was now what was defining me - my career as a research scientist.

I went to sleep with a prayer for the anonymous 33 year old girl, and sending her hope that it is her spirit, her fire, her will to live, that will define her, and not a cancerous mass.

Costco is a dangerous place. One wanders in with aims of being frugal, trying to stick to their list of paper towels and trash bags, and then comes the kitchen appliance aisle. It has sucked me in once before, when I came home with a fabulous new coffee maker, and two days ago, I made the mistake of wandering in again. Now, keep in mind, my super coffee maker is a lovely brushed stainless steel Cuisinart, and matches all of my other brushed stainless appliances, and the first thing I saw upon strolling down that Costco aisle was this ice cream maker. For $49, how bad was this really?

I'd been looking at buying one for a while, especially after seeing lots and lots of my favorite foodie writers describing their home made desserts.

So, in my excitement for my new toy, post your favorite ice cream recipes! I can't wait for the perfect summer weather to enjoy home made ice cream.

Evil Incarnate

I'm going to go right out and say it. I hate Martha Stewart. Possibly it has something to do with the fact that she knows nothing about anything she attempts to do. When she talks or or writes about gardening, she doesn't know the difference between a floribunda and a hybrid tea, or quite frankly bermuda from crabgrass, but in addition, she really hasn't a clue how to cook. If you have ever watched a real chef come on her show, she essentially shoves them out of the way, while the invited guest becomes irate and usually exhibits some fantastic eye-rolling.

Decorno just posted a link to Martha's blog. This honestly made my day, because I had no idea that such a website existed. I was at first entranced by the egregious number of spelling errors, and her general rudeness towards others that is quite obvious in her writings. Then, I noticed what is possibly the worst crime against fashion I have ever witnessed.

Christian Louboutins are the gold standard $700 item that many stylish women hope to someday own. They set trends, and spark envious gazes towards their trademark red soles. The red soles are the signature - not tacky like a Gucci print or a Coach monogram, but understated, and only noticable to those who know where to look.

MARTHA STEWART PAINTS THE SOLES OF HER LOUBOUTINS.. She paints them. And she doesn't take them to a shoe repair place - no, her assistant coats them with a SHARPIE. If I had $700 shoes, I would not take a permenant marker anywhere NEAR them.

::exhales:: Here's to all of us who would kill for Louboutins, and certainly wouldn't attack them with an odorous marker.