2013 in Review

This year was full of traveling. Just for fun, here is all the places I went to starting a year ago:

December 23rd - December 30th: Costa Rica - Christmas break
December 30th - January 3rd: Omaha, NE - New Year's
January 3rd - January 6th: Des Moines, IA - Jenna's wedding
January 6th - January 8th: Omaha, NE - few days before going back
January 13th - January 20th: Houston, TX - Lab collaboration
March 24th - March 25th: NY, NY - Picking up my passport
March 27th - April 1st: San Diego, CA - Hanging out with my parents & spring break
April 14th - April 17th: Houston, TX - Lab collaboration
April 25th - April 29th: Jamaica - Seeing Anton & Lyuba
June 6th - June 13th: Estes Park, CO - Hanging out with Nate's family
July 6th: Martha's Vineyard, MA - Biking with Olga
July 7th - July 12th: Dover, VT - Conference
July 12th - July 14th: St. Louis, MO - Rachelle's wedding
July 29th - August 4th: Houston, TX - Lab collaboration
August 25th - September 1st - Ukraine - Hanging out with my grandparents
September 1st - September 9th - Italy - Anton & Lyuba's wedding
September 9th - September 15th - Russia - Hanging out with my parents
October 31st - November 10th - Mexico - Conference
November 15th - November 20th - San Diego, CA - Conference
November 26th - December 2nd - Omaha, NE - Thanksgiving
December 7th - December 14th - Switzerland - Post-doc interviews
December 22nd - December 27th - Miami & Mexico - Christmas break cruise

So of the 369 days shown here, I have been out of town for 124 of them. That means almost exactly a third. Crazy! This amount of traveling also means 45 flights (15 international, 30 domestic), 7 road-trips of more than 3 hours, and a bazillion frequent flyer miles. The frequent flyer miles are way too hard to calculate because there were a few tickets bought on miles or credit card reward points, and I have 3 frequent flyer numbers that I use interchangeably. I flew enough to circle the earth at least once. Seeing as I have been pregnant since July, this fetus has traveled more than most normal people and he doesn't even know it! Actually, Nate has only been to two more countries than Chase, and it was only one more country until this past week when Nate went to Mexico for the first time and extended his lead (since Chase had technically been to Mexico in November).

In terms of the apartment, this year, we replaced our microwave and our windows. We also had many, many house guests -- both short-term and long-term. We had two students for Bio department recruitment (two weekends), two students over the summer (3 weeks and 1 week), and one friend-of-a-friend (8 weeks), along with Sakina, Olga, and Liz all visiting. I may have forgotten some people, but suffice it to say that our apartment has seen lots of different visitors!

On the craft front, my sewing machine has had quite the workout: a blouse, a bright skirt, cropped cardigans, baby jacket, and candy crush costume. I also did other crafts such as crocheted bears, paint nite, and For the Makers, and some paper crafts.

Other than all the fun crafts I have planned in 2014, we will be putting the apartment up for rent this year as we move to Switzerland, so that will be all chronicled on here (hopefully in a more timely fashion than the last few months). Happy new year and here is to 2014!

Mexico Trip

Another intense trip I took this Fall was to Mexico. Specifically, I went to Mexico City and to a town 4 hours north-west of Mexico City called Guanajuato. The best part is that we traveled there on Halloween, so we were there just in time for Dia de los Muertos. In general, growing up in San Diego, I was very weary of Mexico City, thinking it was very dangerous and dirty. In actuality, it is just as dangerous as any big city in the US (aka much, much safer than I imagined), but it is beautiful and full of culture! It is also HUGE and full of traffic; it's hard to wrap your mind around how large it really is!

We started off looking at the center of Mexico City and went through the Templo Mayor and the archeological museum. It was so interesting! So many things to learn about. Then, we walked through the Mexico City Cathedral, which was very beautiful.

Since it was around Dia de los Muertos, many public places had offerings set up. These varied from place to place and were really interesting to look at. The Cathedral even had one! We went to many different museums (including the museums of Frida Kahlo and Dolores Olmedo) that had offerings set up to different themes or artists. 

Something really cool that we got to see right outside Mexico City was Teotihuacan. This is a ruin site that consists of two main pyramids -- both climbable. We climbed on top of the higher one, the sun pyramid, from which we could see a nice view of the smaller one, the moon pyramid. The view was amazing!

You can see the moon pyramid to right and behind me in the right hand picture. 

Guanajuato was a really cool town, also. We were there for a conference, but we got to look around a little bit. We went to the Diego Rivera museum there and on a Callejoneada, which is like a singing walk around the town lead by a small band. 

On our way back to Mexico City, we stopped by a town called San Miguel de Allende. There was a beautiful cathedral there, and some more beautiful streets and architecture. It was a nice town to visit!

In all, I had a wonderful time in Mexico. I was able to see it from a completely different angle and really experience the culture and art, especially during Dia de los Muertos. These pictures also don't include the wonderful and delicious food we ate! All in all, it was so much fun and I can't wait to go back again!

Candy Crush Halloween Costume

This year for Halloween, I decided to make a Candy Crush costume. Candy Crush is a highly addicting game for iPhone (and technically Facebook) which I have been playing for quite a while and have made it to the "end" a few times (before each level update -- I think I'm on level 485 at the moment). I got the idea for this costume from this youtube video, but I changed it up a bit.

I first made patterns for all six pieces and stapled them to the appropriate colored felt. I decided on felt because it is so cheap and on stapling because I didn't have enough pins! For the blue pieces, since they have a band down the middle, I put in the band with an extra small piece of felt. After sewing all the pieces (which surprisingly went incredibly quickly), I removed all of the staples and patterns (this part took quite a while)! Here are all of the pieces stapled and cut out, a close-up of the blue pieces, and all of the pieces of paper removed after sewing:

After removing all of the staples and patterns, I turned the pieces inside out (also very time consuming!). I made 6 of each color with one of those being stripe-y, and three of the brown ones with multi-colored dots. Here they are all laid out along with detailed shots of a few of them: 

Next, I stuffed and closed up all the pieces. I also thought this would be time consuming, but it was relatively quick. Here are all of the cute pieces: 

I went ahead and put stick-on velcro on the back of all the pieces. I also made a very simple skirt (out of some black material I had) with a elastic waistband.

On the skirt, I put the other side of the stick-on velcro. I decided to do 4 rows of 5 pieces on the front and the same thing on the back. Then I started putting the pieces on: 

All done (I thought)! I took a few pictures of me wearing the skirt and found out that the velcro -- especially the side stuck onto the skirt -- was not too secure (you can see how one piece is missing off of the back view!). On the pieces, I used a glue gun to attach the velcro more securely. On the skirt, I sewed over the velcro. The sewing over velcro turned out to be a terrible, terrible idea. The sticky part on the velcro not only gunked up my needle, but also the inside of my sewing machine. I had to clean everything out and it was so icky! I do not recommend sewing over stick-on velcro. Ever. I have definitely learned my lesson. Either way, after I secured the velcro on both sides, the pieces stayed on a lot better. 

I went to a Halloween party wearing my costume (right hand picture, with the cobweb) and people not only got a kick out of the Candy Crush aspect but were also delighted when I told them they could move the pieces around. I had so much fun making this and wearing it! The pieces are really cute!

Ukraine, Italy, and Russia Trip

As I'm in Geneva right now, waiting to fly back to the US early tomorrow, I figured I'd finally update about my Europe trip this past September.

I first arrived in Kiev for a week, where I spent some quality time at the summer house (aka one of my favorite places in the world).

Then, my cousin, uncle, and aunt-to-be flew to Italy where their wedding was to be held. We spent the first night in Genoa, and then settled in our villa in the cute little town of Portofino. Our villa was situated in a picturesque part overlooking the sea and Portofino. However, this meant that to get to it, we had to climb up a hill for 20 minutes. We did have our own swimming access, which was wonderful and scared me really badly due to sketchy-ness of the stairs connecting the dock-part to the steps up to the villa.

Genoa was beautiful port city which had very Italian streets. Nate, my brother, uncle, and cousin posing in the street. 

View from the dock of the villa and the rickety stairs I was really scared of. Nate, my brother and cousin making fun of me at the bottom. 

View of the town of Portofino from a villa (not the one we were staying at) at the top. 

The wedding was in a cute little church, only accessible by boat. The reception was extravagant and went late, late, late into the night.

On the last day, my mom and I traveled to Cinque Terre. Because we got a late start on the day (due to aforementioned reception), we only made it to two of the towns (Monterosso & Riomaggiore), but they were amazing! We heard lots of good things about Vernazza and were meaning to see that on the way back but due to train schedules, it was just impossible. Next time!

Nice map stolen from Wikitravel that shows the five towns. 

The two towns we did make it to. So cute! The second had so many stairs!!

Finally, my parents and I traveled to Moscow, where I spent some more quality time at another summer house. This one was recently remodeled and was just so awesome. It now has a shower that plays the radio! My parents and I also went into the city and once again, I was overwhelmed with how Americanized everything has become in large European cities. We saw lots of American restaurants -- even a Krispy Kreme. Even here in Geneva, there is Starbucks and McDonalds on every corner. I even saw a Pain Quotidien today!

Remodeled summer house -- once built by my great, great, great grandfather. 

Martha's Vineyard

Olga visited for July 4th weekend and on that Friday, we went to Martha's Vineyard for a day.

We woke up early and drove down to Wood's Hole to take the ferry to the Vineyard. We wanted to get some Pie in the Sky before getting on the ferry but underestimated the available parking in Wood's Hole. Turns out we had to drive back about 20 minutes for parking and take a bus back to Wood's Hole (another 25-30 minutes). Therefore, we grabbed a later ferry than anticipated, but still made it to the island before noon.

Once on the ferry, I called a bike shop on the Vineyard that I had googled. We were able to reserve two mountain bikes to bike around the island. We got a great deal: something like $35 for two bikes for the day (helmets and a lock included). We were able to grab some lunch before setting off on our ride.

Here is the route we took:

We started at Oak Bluffs and went to Edgartown (but didn't quite make it) and then came back through Vineyard Haven to Oak Bluffs. We tried to geocache but the only one we ended up getting involved us badly bitten by small bugs, so we decided to cut our loses and stop there.

Here is a view of our bikes at the closest point we got to Edgartown:

Some photos from Vineyard Haven (where we ate some yummy ice cream and checked out a cute book shop) next to the water:

And finally, one last photo of Oak Bluffs on our way back to the ferry:

In the end, we were on the island for about 7 hours total, biked over 15 miles, ate yummy food, saw some beautiful sights, and got a bit sunburnt in the process. A wonderful day trip!

Catching up (again)

Since the last post, I have had a very busy last few months with only a few craft projects and tons and tons of traveling (4 countries: Ukraine, Italy, Russia, Mexico; 3 states: Missouri, Vermont, Texas; and an island: Martha's Vineyard), so a catch up is in order. The posts that follow this one will go over the international trips, the trip to Martha's Vineyard, and my halloween costume.

For now, a few smaller projects:

1. My friend Kate had a baby in the middle of July and I made her a cute little newborn jacket from this book (that my brother got me for Christmas last year).

2. I made another small crocheted bear for a friend, this time modifying this free pattern.

3. We finally got new windows last week! I first posted about this a year ago, but we finally got around to it. They are wonderful! They look exactly the same from inside and outside, but you can't feel the wind through them and our heat hasn't gone on since I got back 24 hours ago. The only issue is that our blinds had to be removed and don't fit back in so we are going to need to get new blinds or better curtains. Stay tuned on what we decide. 

Hiking Flattop Mountain

Every year, Nate's family takes a vacation to Rocky Mountain National Park. We have been going a few years now and usually there is one intense hike that we do. Three years ago, we got up to hike in the dark and then watch the sunrise from above tree line. This year, we didn't get up that early (only 4:30am), but did have an ALL day hike. This was the 8.6-mile round-trip hike to Flattop Mountain. This is a hard hike in general, but since this was early June, there was still a good deal of snow on the hike. For about a full mile to mile and a half in the middle of the hike (meaning up to 3 miles round trip) we attempted to hike through, around, and on top of snow banks, measuring up to 3-4 feet. That is the part that really got me. I could handle the sun, elevation, exhaustion, but that snow... it really did me and everybody else in. However, we persevered and all got up to the top! And then persevered again and all got to the bottom in one piece! It was definitely one successful and intense hike!

L: There was 4G pretty much all the way up the mountain so Nate was using a remote desktop app to control his computer at home and run some code! Of course!

R: Nate and I at the Dream Lake Overlook (995' climb up and 1.6 miles in)

T: Panorama as we were approaching the tree line (with Nate's cousin and uncle)

B: Nate and I at the Emerald Lake Overlook (1,882' climb up and 2.9 miles in) -- this was after a good deal of the snow so we are happy but exhausted

T: Nate taking a picture of the crew all huddled up and eating lunch (2,660' climb up and 3.9 miles in)

B: Panorama of the perennial snow bank right before the top (I may have taken this a bit too quickly because I was unrealistically worried about the threat of avalanche)

T: Panorama of the top of Flattop Mountain (4.3 mile hike and 2,849' climb up to put us at 12,324' -- over two miles up from sea level)

L: Nate and I posing by a flag near the top

R: A shot from the top where you can see the parking lot where we parked our car (surreal and sort of sad!)

Cropped Cardigans

My friend Laura wanted a few cardigans cropped to be shorter. There are quite a few tutorials online for this kind of thing, and it seemed very straight forward. Of course, I measured about twelve times before cutting and then I found out the sweaters were all a little bit different so that was annoying. One of the four I cropped was a full inch longer than the others. Just for funzies (and to annoy me!).

I cut the middle of the sweater out so that I could attach the ribbing to the top part of the sweater. The button spacing, thankfully, aligned close to correctly so that was nice, but if I were making it a different size, I could see the button spacing being too short between the top and the ribbing. I needed to pin everything pretty intensely, because it was stretchy material and the machine tends to pull the bottom through faster than the top so if you're not careful, you can get some large differences between the two fabrics you are sewing.

All of the tutorials recommended a zigzag stitch, which is usually what should be used for this. However, I found that a different stitch was better -- I think it's a modified blind stitch but I can't seem to find the correct name for it on the interwebs. This stitch has the zigzag but also has a few straight stitches on each side (this is the stitch I have used to hem at least a dozen of my brother's shirts). This caused the fabric to ripple less since there was less thread going back and forth. In the end, all the cardigans looked nice and cropped, and Laura was very happy with her newly modified cardigans! The sleeves didn't need any modification because they were already 3/4 sleeve but they could be modified exactly like the main part of the cardigan.

Sodastream & Flavored Syrup

This is something that I have wanted to mention on this blog for a while, but now is a good time. For Christmas, Nate's parents gave us a Sodastream. Specifically this Sodastream model. This is something I wanted for a long time because I like drinking carbonated water. It was really easy to use and we started using it in January. It did come with some "syrups" and they were ok, but not great. The suggested dilution was WAY too syrup-y and sweet so we haven't really used them at all.

We have had to replace the carbonator twice now. Once in mid-April and once yesterday. I thought this was going to be super hard and frustrating, but we just went to the Bed, Bath, & Beyond (there is one next to Costco so it's super convenient) with the old one and they had new ones there. They are apparently $15, but Bed, Bath, & Beyond honors their "$5 off $15 or more" coupon for them so it becomes $10, which is really cheap for about 3 months of carbonated water.

At first, Nate was skeptical of the Sodastream, but now he uses it almost as much as I do (which at least once a day). So, if anyone is really into drinking carbonated water and thinking about getting a carbonator, we really recommend this one. Yes, you can make your own and yes, that's probably cheaper and handier, but the Sodastream is really easy to use, takes up very little space, and the cartridges are super easy to replace.

So, recently, especially now that it's summer, I have been wanting to find a syrup that I can add to the water to give it a little bit of flavor. I started looking online, and all of the syrups I could find were just sugar. They had high fructose corn syrup listed as the second ingredient. I didn't want sugar but rather a flavoring, so I was really frustrated. Finally, I decided to just make some of my own. I had a few berries in the fridge, so I boiled them with some water and a tiny bit of sugar (I also added some rosemary and a squirt of lemon juice to round it out). I ended up with the perfect flavoring (I don't think it's even syrup since it's not syrupy) that was not sugary at all. Yay! And it was super easy to do. I should have done this long ago!

I used a cocktail shaker to strain out all of the berry skins!

Twitter & Teddy Bear

I seem to have been updating this blog a bit slower than I would like. Instead, of blogging once a week, I seem to blog 3-4 posts at the same time once a month. Still just as much material, but not as spread out. Oh well. Therefore, I have 3 other posts I will soon be uploading (this weekend) so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I have finally succumbed to/discovered the beauty that is Twitter. To parallel the name of this blog, I can be followed @oxyquips. There may be a slight overlap with things here and things there, but obviously this blog will still have more pictures and text.

Yesterday, I crocheted a cute little rainbow teddy bear! I got the instructions from this youtube video and it was a really quick (less than an hour) and enjoyable crochet project.

On the left, all of the crocheted parts before assembly. On the right, the finished bear. 

New Microwave

About a year and a half ago, our dishwasher broke. We had to buy a new one and install it. After a few hiccups, we were successful in installing it and it works perfectly.

Two weeks ago, our microwave broke. It had been making a weird noise for the last almost 4 years so I was not surprised. We were very proactive and went to remove it the next day. The uninstall/removal process was killer.

Before we knew anything was wrong...

We watched some videos on youtube that made it look super easy. Little did we know that the microwave we had was installed on some kind of incorrect bracket and the bracket was installed incorrectly to the wall (hanging on by three points instead of four). After lots of tugging and frustration, we finally got it down. 

Nate has it propped up with a table on the left and the faulty bracket (you can see the top left part not attached) on the right. 

After we finally (finally!!) got it down, we realized that not only was that wall the wrong color (not the same color as the rest of the apartment), but due to the faulty bracket, there was a fun-sized hole in it. I patched it up using spackle (I used this DryDex spackle that went on pink and dried to white -- very handy!) and then painted the wall with two coats of paint. I also used this opportunity to patch up and paint other areas around the apartment that needed a bit of attention (mainly the light switch in the bathroom that was covered with caulk that had started peeling off -- eww! It's all fixed now so that is awesome!). 

After everything was ready to go, what did we do? Well, Nate drove around with the purchased microwave in the trunk of the car for a good week or so. Of course. We were very busy in this time so it was sort of understandable. But only sort of. 

Finally, we had enough time to install it (this was this last Friday night). That is when we started reading the instructions and realized that we needed a drill. We borrowed a drill from a neighbor and were ready to go. Except, now we needed a 5/8'' drill bit. After a crazy search around the lab and texting pretty much everyone we knew in a good 10 block radius, we were able to borrow a 5/8'' drill bit from Will (this was Saturday morning). 

Once the template was up, we drilled some holes, located some studs, and made sure everything was level. Using those holes, we added the bracket (once again, making sure everything was level -- our cabinets are NOT level -- based on everything else in this apartment, I'm sure you're not surprised). There was also a template for the top of the cabinet that we taped up and drilled those holes. Everything was so simple and easy!! 

Once the bracket was in place and the holes in the cabinet were drilled, we easily put up the microwave and everything popped right in place! We attached the screws through the top cabinet (which to our surprise worked perfectly fine and straight) and it was perfectly in place! It looks so nice. I was surprised I had no pictures between the bracket and the finished product but it was so easy that there was no time for pictures (Nate says it was because we were holding it up but even if that's true we were only holding it up for a few minutes). 

So, in the end, it was much easier to install this microwave than to uninstall the last one (mostly because the last one's bracket was so messed up!). And now, we have officially replaced half the kitchen appliances in this apartment! I predict the next one to kick the bucket will be the washer/dryer but I hope that will not be for a long time! 

Paint Nite!

A week or two ago, Nate and I went to Paint Nite. This was a gift from Nate's parents for my birthday! Thanks to them for getting us this wonderful opportunity to create something cool. 

Nate at first was very hesitant but in the end, he was pleasantly surprised by how much he was into it. 

We went to this event at the Friendly Toast. That link also has the painting that we were there to draw. As you can see below, we didn't quite follow it completely, but did take major elements from it for our paintings. 

Me being super excited beforehand and Nate not quite sure at the end!

Mine on the left, Nate's on the right. 

Overall, both paintings turned out pretty cool. I really didn't like the way my reflection turned out on the bottom. Nate had this great idea for a white tree but didn't have time to do the reflection on the bottom correctly. His turned out a bit darker and more interesting than mine that turned out a bit more meh. He signed and labeled his "NJ 1/1" and I signed mine as "OS!" Right now the paintings are hanging up in our living room because we had to give back the painting on loan and there were two empty hooks on the wall. 

In the end, even though we were both not in love with our paintings, we had a great time and our paintings came out better than we had anticipated! Thanks again to Nate's parents for this birthday gift!! 

Jamaica(n me crazy!)

Nate is opposed to this title. But, oh well. I am finally done with TAing so I finally have some time to update a few things that have been going on lately in my/our world.

Three weekends ago, Nate and I went to Jamaica with Anton and Lyuba. We stayed in Discovery Bay in a Villa. It was beautiful! We kayaked, played cards, drank Red Stripe, swam, attempted to play tennis and volleyball, and just chilled. Such a great and relaxing trip!

The view from our meals and the walk to the private beach from the villa. 

After a successful kayak trip out on the bay/ocean. 

Standing on the dock of the private beach on our last day there. 

Summer Skirt

I apparently fell off the face of the earth. I have been very busy traveling and TAing and doing lots of lab stuff. But I'm back and I recently finished a skirt to share on this blog!

I started this skirt a while ago and it consisted of making trapezoids of pink on green polka dots on one side and pink on the other side. To sew these together, I sewed the right sides on three sides and kept one side open (the top) to inverse them. Yes, the material is a bit bright, but I think it's fun!

I then sewed 8 trapezoids together and alternated the fabric showing on each side of the trapezoids. Here is me wearing the skirt. It looks cheery but the tops of the trapezoids are not level because it still needs a waistband.

I realized that I needed a waistband and the only way it was going to work would be with a zipper. So I added a zipper and then I consulted google for the best way to put on a waistband. I found this blog post that had detailed instructions. I followed those instructions and pinned on a waistband. If I was doing this again, I would have added something to the waistband fabric to make it more sturdy, but for this case, it looked fine.

I sewed on the waistband and it started to look very neat and professional. I then hand stitched on some clasps to finish off the waistband.

Then I tried on the skirt! The waistband makes it look nice and complete! I do wish the waistband was a bit sturdier and maybe about half an inch to an inch smaller. I got scared that I was making the waistband too small so I made it looser than my calculation and it looks like there is a bit of slack. I also should have put in some pockets because that would have made it even better. Oh well, overall, I like the look and feel and color of the skirt! It's perfect for summer!

You can see my Easter sunburn on the right picture! Can't believe I got all that from an hour and half in the sun!

For the Makers

For my birthday, Olga got me a two-month subscription to For the Makers. Every month, they send you a cute little box with four different projects. There are tutorials online for each project but in general, you can do whatever you want with the materials given. So far, I've made two of the projects:

The first one was super simple but the second time took some time. I changed it a little bit from the tutorial but I think it looks very nice and clean. I have never thought about attaching beads to a rope like that but it's actually very cute. I wish the rope was thinner but now that I know how easy this is and how cute it looks, I can do it again with different materials! 

I'll finish the other two projects and show them next week. Thanks for the gift, Olga!

Nemo!

I have never seen as much snow as I saw yesterday after the blizzard (named Nemo). I think it's more snow than I've seen in the last three years living in Boston combined. Officially we got about 2 feet but the snow drifts were insane! There was a car ban for about 24 hours which was moot on Saturday since most cars were buried so deeply that there was no where to go! That along with the T and most restaurants being closed made for a very uneventful weekend. Nate took a few pictures of me on the way to MIT last night. 

Next to a random snow bank -- mostly made by the plows.

On the street with the Stata building in the background -- even after plowing there was still a good layer of snow on the roads. 

That is me next to a few cars -- all buried.

We didn't have a chance to check out our car but we also have word that is it buried. Nate will be taking the T to Harvard for the next few days since parking anywhere will be ridiculous. 

In the meantime, Nate and I enjoyed one of our Christmas presents. My parents gave us a fireplace that takes canisters of fuel to make real fire. It was really nice being at home while watching the snow and enjoying some dancing flames. 

This has definitely been an experience. I think I've had my fill of winter for the next ten years!