New phones...

Well at some point a few weekends ago I got a new cell phone-renewed my contract and barely had to pay anything for it plus it's a fancy one-with a camera to take pics and videos. So I have been driving everyone crazy at work because I like to whip out my camera and take video then re-play it. I still have to buy an adaptor so I can actually load it onto my laptop.
So I worked a ton last week but had two social outings. I went to see V for Vendetta which I really liked-sure, it was dark and the V character mumbled in the beginning but it made some good points and Natalie Portman was excellent. After the movie, we all went to a British dive pub which happened to have karoke night (no didn't partake) and some really bad singers. I also got buzzed after about 3/4 of a cider-see, I rarely drink anymore so that is what happens. Another night last week was girls' night where me and some postdoc gal pals take turns hosting dinner and watching Sex and the City episodes. It's my turn to host next so I will fire up the grill. On Saturday, I did nothing but clean and watch dvds and then yesterday, I spent the whole day at the lab working in the peace and quiet b/c I didn't want to screw up any of my precious samples which took a month to gather. I came home and my night involved watching Charmed (TJ-you know the series will have its finale in 4 more episodes! boo hoo) and going to bed early. I seem to be sleeping alot lately. It's Monday and I am already tired. On Friday, our new postdoc flies in until Tuesday to stay with me and look for a place to live so things will be busy. We will basically drive around looking at places. There will also be the LA Festival of books so I am hoping to go to some panel discussions.

So nothing too exciting going on...

Julie

Parks & Beaches...

After a long work week, I was definitely ready for the weekend. I did have one fun night where I helped my labmate prepare a gorgeous vegetable dish for lab mtg, it required alot of pepper skinning and onion cutting but it was fun to cook with someone-my meals lately have consisted of alot of Trader Joe's frozen food although I am looking forward to getting back to grilling.
Hmm, so it was a pretty quiet weekend-I took care of my neighbor's dog and spent time in a park near me which turns out is huge-lots of playing fields, tennis courts, just nice picnic areas, it reminds me of Himmel Park in Tucson. I also went to Easter Brunch at this cool restaurant in Marina Del Rey-about 20 min south of me, located on a wharf, they had an all-buffet, all you can eat for 30 bucks (reminded me of Vegas) plus champagne (which I tipped my oj into for a mimosa), I went with my neighbor, her mom, sister, and boyfriend, it was really nice, it made me less homesick for Tucson and all of the old Easter parties there (ie Lisa and Ken's famous one!). Then, I mustered my courage and for the first time ever, put my helmet on and rode my bike 3 miles down to the beach (and back). Granted, I was going slow at times and huffin and puffin and slightly paranoid about cars, but really, I was pretty relaxed and made it down there in 20 min. I then plunked myself on the sand and took a nap, enjoyed the day-it was in the low 70s and sunny. I then biked home and worked out some, got some movies, and settled in for the night. It was such a great feeling to not have worked at all during the weekend and to be in such constant sunshine.
Julie

A Blur...

Allright, well it's been almost two weeks and after I wrote my last entry, I got busy again. Last weekend I had a pretty full schedule which included going to this cool Chinese dumpling place in Arcadia with my labmates, hosting a postdoc candidate interviewing in my boss's husband's lab (took her to the ocean and Santa Monica, a sure fire way to thrill the visitors), and deciding to put my full support behind UCLA to win the championship although their performance on Monday was a let-down. I was supposed to go to a Wellesley brunch but no one showed up, I waited for like 30 min, cursed Well girls (TJ and Lisa-enjoying this?) then skeddadled out of there and ran on a multitude of errands incl getting a new cell phone. It turns out that by renewing my contract with Cingular Wireless I get practically a free fancy Nokia 6102 phone with video and camera and they have a contract with UCLA so I get 16% off my bill each month-sweet. So my neighbor and I were making goofy videos of her dog the other night. Let's see-last week was busy too-alot of work commitments incl a bunch of visiting speakers and a dinner at our chair's house so all of that made me want to do nothing this weekend. I pretty much did nothing except for a jaunt to a series of Art Galleries called Bergamot Station. One gallery exhibited this functional art-chairs made out of wine corks so for example, one chair was made out of 15,000 wine corks-pretty cool-you can see the website here-look up artist Wiese.
http://www.galleryoffunctionalart.com/GFA_furniture.shtml
I also checked out this book store called Book Soup in WHollywood, on the famed Sunset strip which during the day looks downright seedy and ugly-well the bookstore is packed floor to ceiling with books and I pre-ordered copies of Augusten Burroughs's new book (author of Running with Scissors, Dry) b/c he will be giving a reading in May at some cafe in Hollywood.
I also found out that ucla is host to the LA festival of books so a ton of authors will be in panel discussions-see website-http://www.latimes.com/extras/festivalofbooks/program_panels.html
LA is awesome!
Oh yeah, besides reading a ton (incl the fascinating book Labryrinth, kinda like the Da Vinci but about the holy grail), I also saw that movie Inside Man with Jodie Foster, Clive Owen, and Denzel Washington. It was really good.

Anyways, it was nice to have a me-weekend.

Julie