the land of bimsk

It looks nice out there in the real world… #lifebeforebebe

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:55:20 -0400

It looks nice out there in the real world…
#lifebeforebebe

one large iced tea, one ham/cheddar/nut butter sandwich, one bag of chips, one chocolate dipped...

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:18:15 -0400

one large iced tea, one ham/cheddar/nut butter sandwich, one bag of chips, one chocolate dipped shortbread cookie, one chai latte, a whole lot of daft punk and queen, and many pomodoro tomatoes later…and we have a revised qualifying exam.

tomorrow i plan to give it one last read through/tuning up and write my accompanying letter. then i will finally submit the darn thing. WOOHOO!!

now off to meet with our awesome wedding coordinator at the brewery to nail down some day-of details.

may has been absolutely nuts. here are all the things that need...

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:32:00 -0400

may has been absolutely nuts. here are all the things that need to happen, schoolwise, this month:

revise my qualifying exam (my summer funding depends on it and i am so very late on this)
three Hierarchical Linear Models assignments and one Hierarchical Linear Models final (believe me, i am just as confused by HLM as one might imagine)
write a conference paper
design a continuation of the research i’ve been conducting this year and write new protocol so i can push it through irb and get my application in to cps in time to be there for the important events over the summer

and on top of that…

we have the wedding in two and a half weeks! which means wrapping up all the little things that need to happen like thinking up and making all the decorations, dealing with all the vendors, getting headcounts for this or that event, figuring out hair and makeup, buying last minute things, calming down worried relatives about this or that thing, and all those other little random miscellany that keep popping up.
oh yeah, and i’m pregnant. which comes with all the unpredictable day-to-day energy levels and mood swings. this had made an already hectic month especially…interesting.

not much of the school stuff has budged on that list. not surprisingly (and with no regret), wedding and baby have taken priority the past few weeks. so today, i’m sequestering myself in one of my favorite coffee shops and am not leaving until my revisions on my exam are done. i have six uninterrupted hours in front of me, the new daft punk album to listen to, and a few playlists loaded up to get me through. god help me.

(at Red June Cafe)

Iced chai break by the lake. #lifebeforebebe

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:29:57 -0400

Iced chai break by the lake. #lifebeforebebe

My makeshift desktop and I are absolutely buried in work for the...

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:01:00 -0400

My makeshift desktop and I are absolutely buried in work for the foreseeable future. (at Home)

dinner this week:

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:45:27 -0400

during my first trimester, cooking was the absolute last thing i wanted to do. but i’m feeling much better about the whole thing now and have been happily returning back to the kitchen.

monday - tozi w/ allison and jonny. they will be our photographers at our rehearsal dinner and wanted to check out the space.
tuesday - quinoa with black beans, chicken breast, lime, and avocado
wednesday - crisped brown rice with beef, vegetables, and eggs
thursday - dinner with some visiting faculty

Wedding suit shopping and lunch date w/ Matt (at Michigan...

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:29:00 -0400

Wedding suit shopping and lunch date w/ Matt (at Michigan Avenue)

Finally planted greens in the garden. Two kinds of kale and...

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:37:00 -0400

Finally planted greens in the garden. Two kinds of kale and rainbow chard. (at Home)

i think i’m going to try something new. when we first found out we were expecting, i tried to...

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:33:12 -0400

i think i’m going to try something new. when we first found out we were expecting, i tried to take a picture a day to document life before the baby. since i’m forgetful about taking my camera places and am also generally bad about keeping stuff like this up, it lasted about two weeks and quickly stopped. so now i’m going to use instagram/tumblr to give it another shot. consider yourself warned.

Benny’s spring/summer hangout.

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:00:00 -0400

Benny’s spring/summer hangout.

a running list of things that have made me cry:

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:07:00 -0400

since i’ve been pregnant, i have been crying about all kinds of things. well, i like to say that my eyes are sweating. but let’s be honest, i’m crying. i’m crying all over the place. crying over the ridiculous, the valid, and the touching. here is a sample of just a few of those things.

i’ve seen one episode of the voice. it was one of those episodes where they introduce the contestants and the judges get to choose or reject them for their team. i cried the whole time. i cried when someone got picked (i’m just so happy for them!!) and i cried when someone got rejected (i’m just so sad for them!!). it was a very emotional hour.
i have been collecting data at a school on the southside during this school year. i’m there about 2-3 times a week and have gotten to know the school and some of the staff rather well. this school is plagued with neighborhood violence issues. and i don’t know if you heard about the man who was driving, pulled over to change his baby girl’s diaper in the front seat, and got sprayed by rival gang members driving by. he survived, the baby was shot four times and did not. this family attends this school. i was at the school the day the siblings came back and when i heard about it, i almost broke down in front of the principal, was barely able to keep it together, and cried all the way home.
t-bag sent me the sweetest package ever. it was a collection of things that made her think of me over the course of a few months. each item had a sweet note attached to it and there was a really sweet card in the box. i cried when i read the card, i cried as i opened each item and read each note, and continued to cry harder as i worked my way through the package. i love t-bag. <3
sometimes when i watch matt and benny play together, my eyes start sweating pretty hard. i love the way matt disciplines benny when he’s been bad (i am particularly bad at this) and yet still showers him with so much love and plays with him in such a goofy manner. i love the man matt is and i can’t wait to see what kind of father he will be. this is one lucky little baby.
i was reading a theory article about how decisions are made in a NICU ward (are they made through the lens of the law? the family? the profession?). i was trying to describe it to a friend and got really teary-eyed just thinking about those poor little babies. poor little babies…
sometimes i take benny to play at the park and i watch the little kids play in the playground like a huge creeper. nothing about this situation in particular makes me tear up; just everything in general makes me tear up.
boston. i cried in front of the tv for a few hours, then moved myself over to my computer to cry in front of that a little while more.
the day i wrote this post: every little thing. i sat in a coffee shop and cried by myself for a good twenty minutes while watching the rain come down outside. kind of like in a sitcom but with more erratic emotions.
running into one of matt’s former co-workers (who i barely know) at whole foods and telling her that i’m pregnant. for some reason, i got so teary eyed and had to will myself extra hard to not make what was becoming an awkward moment a full-blown awkward explosion.
at my bachelorette party, i requested that no one buy me any gifts. so what did my totally amazing friends do? they found a loophole and made me gifts instead. honestly, i had to relook at them when i got home because i didn’t really see all of them since i was crying so much.

and there you go. a short list of tear-inducing situations. i know they tell pregnant women to stay extra hydrated. in my case, i wonder if it’s because of all the moisture i lose through my near-daily tears.

bacheloretting in new orleans was a blur of fun, food, laughter,...

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:32:51 -0400

patio beers on magazine street

music!

lovely lovely friends

this is a very good representation of how we usually look together.

so good

creepy creepy nature

<3

one of my favorites

a-game and my new sister!

kind of looks like the notebook (except with more swamp creatures)

bacheloretting in new orleans

was a blur of fun, food, laughter, swamps, music, and friends. there were 11 of us who went, all from different phases of my life. i have repeatedly heard that one of the best parts of getting married is having so many loved ones in one place. and if this weekend is any preview of the wedding weekend, i completely and totally believe that. there were many moments over the past weekend where i was just overwhelmed with love and happy feelings seeing so many loved ones getting to know each other and having a great time.

we ate ourselves silly (i had crawfish etouffee four times. why is crawfish etouffee so good?), befriended many people around town, listened to music on frenchmen street, explored voodoo and witchery shops, vintage shopped, drank (well they drank, i drank a lot of water) all day and night, went on a swamp tour (which really felt like that disneyland jungle tour except it was with real live alligators and wild boar and other creatures. by the way, nature scares the crap out of this city-dwelling girl). basically, we had a blast.

Holy shit that’s a wild boar begging for marshmallows. ...

Sat, 11 May 2013 16:47:46 -0400

Holy shit that’s a wild boar begging for marshmallows. (at The Swamp)

at The Swamp

Sat, 11 May 2013 16:29:00 -0400

at The Swamp

countdowns*

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:03:52 -0400

one month until the wedding…

one day until my bachelorette party…

…and one trimester of growing our little baby in my stomach down. [holy crap we are going to be parents (!!!!!!!!!).]

*to say there’s been a lot of excitement, hustle, and bustle going on over here would be a gross understatement.

this weekend consisted of all kinds of lovely things (especially lovely after our highly enjoyable...

Sun, 05 May 2013 18:31:00 -0400

this weekend consisted of all kinds of lovely things (especially lovely after our highly enjoyable but highly hectic past week):

finally planted some seedlings in the garden! we’ve got thai basil, basil, rosemary, savory, sage, green onions, chives, cucumber, three kinds of tomatoes (heirloom, cherry, and something else i already forgot), ichiban eggplant, eggplant, three kinds of peppers (red, purple, orange), and strawberries. i still want to pick up some greens, but i’m happy to have gotten the process started.
a-game and i went to home depot and brainstormed how to make the wedding ceremony backdrop. i love doing stuff like this with her - since she makes art for a living, i feel like she has a different eye for how to construct random things and also has lots of tools and handy skills that i’m sure we’ll take advantage of. we basically got lots of pvc piping cut, some elbows for the piping, and some contraptions to stabilize the 9’x8’ structure we’ll be constructing. i think it’s going to be pretty cool.
matt and i went to get our wedding bands. it was a quick, easy process. and also pretty cool to see those rings on our fingers. we’re getting married so soon!
food - tried a newish restaurant in the neighborhood called hash (it was just kind of okay), tried another newish restaurant called takito (which was quite good - they had pozole. i love pozole.), ate fresh pasta with bolognese and a skillet cookie with ice cream, and tonight we’ll be making homemade shrimp and grits. mmm…homemade shrimp and grits…

this weekend might have been a great one. but i have a feeling next weekend will be one that will go down in history. bachelorette party consisting of a trip to new orleans with 11 of my very favorite people. oh boy (i’m so excited i can hardly take it).

our return to the bay area was completely epic. we ate all our...

Thu, 02 May 2013 11:19:00 -0400

our reward after walking 6.5 miles to the restaurant.

green tea milk, fresh mochi (flash frozen) from japan, and melon pastries.

the funniest little baby ever.

llf!

<3 sf <3

delfina has the perfect crust

family at ppq.

tres leches. triple drools.

five dungeness crabs for six people. we ate it all.

amazing hanging garden deck

our return to the bay area was completely epic.

we ate all our favorite things: bi-rite ice cream, many treats (including that tres leches cake with a croissant crust [you heard that right]) from tartine, ramen, udon, dim sum, misc. japanese treats, dungeness crabs and garlic noodles, burma superstar, delfina pizza, 2/3 of the menu at blue plate.

we did all kinds of fun things: walked 6.5 miles between the mission and the richmond (with a slight detour through golden gate park) to get to burma superstar, hung out on our amazing roof garden deck in the hot hot sunshine, meandered all over the mission, met new babies and saw old friends, hung out with family. oh yeah, and attended just a wee bit of a conference.

it was everything i wanted and more.

(and thanks to my favorite lovely ladies, matt, and his bromance for making the weekend so special!)

and the more came with a quick trip home to do more of the same - eat my favorite foods and visit with my favorite people.

Re: Loving It: What To Do If You Visit Chicago in April

Wed, 01 May 2013 19:39:31 -0400

Re: Loving It: What To Do If You Visit Chicago in April:

relovingit:

- I have one suggestion for what to do if you visit Chicago in April. Adopt a dog and spend all your time walking her.

I’m joking, but April really is a fantastic time to take long walks around the city, as long as it’s not raining. You can meander the elaborate flowers planted between…

i spent this past weekend with brady in san francisco. and i can tell you firsthand: this lady knows how to live life right. so please do take her advice. you will not be sorry.

my imprint city

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:19:00 -0400

brady and i have talked quite a bit about people’s “imprint city.” the city where they do the most growing up in and, from then on, will compare (at least in some small way) every city they live in to it. well. my imprint city is without a doubt san francisco. i moved there shortly after college and lived there for six years before moving to chicago to come to grad school. in other words, i spent most of my 20s there and most certainly did the large bulk of my growing up there. and i feel like i lived two to three lifetimes in that time. i found some of my closest, dearest friends. i found my career path. and, i found my matt. i also found a huge part of myself, as cheesy as that sounds.

i.love.san.francisco.

and today, i’m going back!!! i’m spending a few days with friends and family, then checking into our gorgeous air bnb right in the heart of the mission (my old neighborhood), then kind of sort of attending a conference but really setting up in different coffee shops to work, then eating all kinds of things, then catching up with old friends and a few of my favorite former co-workers, then heading down to southern california to spend a quick day and a half with my family. also, matt is meeting us out there so we can take it “back to where it all started.” (somewhere in there i have to finish off a huge paper i’ve been working on but we won’t worry about that right now…).

i tried to sleep in this morning knowing there’s a long day ahead of me but i was too excited to stay in bed any longer. and that never ever happens.

on friday, we packed up the car and left bright and early for...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:19:00 -0400

matt's horse

matt's longtime dear friend

benny's new obsession

keeneland

on friday, we packed up the car and left bright and early for kentucky. this weekend felt like such a needed break and it was so nice to relax, eat, and hang out in lexington with matt’s friends and family.

we got in friday afternoon, hung out with matt’s mom and stepdad, took a nap, and got dressed up for dinner in lexington with matt’s dad and stepmom.

on saturday, we got all dressed up and headed out to keeneland to watch the horse races. we ran into some friends, ate some lunch, bet some money (matt cashed about five tickets!), cheered some horses on, and came back home just a little bit richer. that night, we grilled out steaks and hung out with the dogs, then headed into town to see some good friends.

sunday morning was a special treat. matt is part owner of a race horse (that beauty pictured at the top) who will be racing at keeneland next week. matt’s buddy called and said they were going to work the horse that morning and invited us to come check it out. so we got up early, met his friend at the keeneland track kitchen, went to the barns to check out the horses, and watched his horse tear through six furlongs with absolutely no problem. he is so gorgeous and incredible to watch up close. fingers crossed for him next weekend…then we ate some delicious brunch complete with pimiento cheese sandwiches and biscuits and gravy and got back on the road (check out benny’s weird new pillow. he discovered that position on the way home and stayed like that most of the time).