Michelle got an engagement ring worth as much as a small car… and she doesn’t even bother to post pictures of it on our blog.

What’s up with that?

Lucky says “Wipe Yer Paws!”

Dining Room – in the works

Kitchen, take 1

Kitchen – looking into the Living room

Living room

Living room, looking back to the Kitchen

The Study – a work in progress, or a disaster zone?

You make the choice

Guest Bathroom

Guest Bedroom, almost finished!

Garden Tub in Master Bath.  There’s also a walk-in closet and shower stall in here. 

And a big ol’ backyard for the Luckster!

The master bedroom, and a better shot of the master bathroom aren’t up here at the moment, but I will post them once those rooms get unpacked!  Leave us some love, and any decorating ideas!

The first sign of a better Christmas came to my inbox just today:

Now, that’s a sign of a good Christmas when you’ve got everything paid for and you’ve already done 85% of your shopping!  Now- to find something perfect for Michelle…     Why are the people you know best always the hardest to shop for?

I promise those of you who read this (is there anyone out there??) that Bryan and I have NOT thrown in the towel on this site, nor have we made a split.  Life’s actually quite peachy for us at the moment – Bryan’s coming to his first anniversary as a graduated software engineer (sounds so sophisticated, doesn’t it?), and I am finishing up my first semester at MD Anderson!  We’re still separated, with Bryan up in Waco and myself still trudging away in Bastrop, but this too, shall pass.  We’re both hoping the market will straighten out after the new year (though if yesterday’s 650 pt drop indicates anything, the US markets are still on shaky ground!), as he’s been looking for jobs in Austin fruitlessly.  We’ve been trading off weekends in Austin and Waco, with a weekday trip thrown in for good measure.  To say the least, we’ve been working our butts off to keep us going, which, we think, is worth it. 

This past weekend was the Thanksgiving holiday, which we spent with Bryan’s family in Temple.   Sad to say, but the tryptophan got to all of us at one point or another, with Bryan’s parents knocking out directly after the meal, Bryan crashing at 4pm, and myself bringing it home with a 7pm bedtime (and 10am wakeup – 15 hours of sleep!).  We then spent a sleepy Black Friday in Waco, not really daring to go out to the stores.   Saturday we came to Bastrop, however, and performed a Bolner Tradition – putting up the Christmas Tree!  Take a look:

Changing out the Wreaths

Bryan plus lights...

Equals lit-up Lucky

Being artistic

Happy Holidays from Austin!

Our Creation...

I think after 2 hours of straight Muppets singing Christmas songs and me singing an octave too high, Bryan got a little burnt out.  Nonetheless, it is really nice to have our first ‘full grown’ christmas tree.

The next few weeks shall be a bit crazy, what with finals looming in the distance and then road tripping with Sam to El Paso.  Bryan’s flying in on Christmas Eve, and God help him, he doesn’t know what he’s in for – there’s nothing like a Southwest Christmas.  Especially with my family and friends. 

Today we got lazy and let the kids watch a history channel movie entitled ‘How the Earth was Made’.  The kids were totally amazed by tectonic plate movement, Pangea and the ‘SUPER ICE AGE’.  I had fun stopping the movie and explaining everything to them.  Just to watch their faces light up with understanding is one of the most rewarding actions I have ever encountered.  The kids that Stacy and I have are so damned smart – I wish every kid was like these are.  Oh, they make the morning fly by.  It is going to be sad to have it come to an end tomorrow.

The Bryan countdown is down to NINE days.  Yes. Very excited about seeing my goober.  I can’t wait.

Oh, but I have competitive news to Bryan’s arrival – I just landed my third rotation at MD ANDERSON.  I get to do three ten week lab rotations with different ‘prospective mentor/professors’.  Okay, so I already had two down:  One in reproductive cancers (and xenoestrogens) with Dr. Walker, and a second in epigenetic factors of carcinogens and teratogens with Dr. Bedford.  Guess who I’m doing my third one with???  Oh yeah, that’s right:  The Dean.

Dr. Richie, the dean of Research Park, asked me to do a rotation through her lab.  She specializes in studies of the thymus (that organ above your heart that produces young antibodies).  When you’re about twenty years old, your thymus stops producing naive T cells and begins to turn to fat through a process called involution.  This means that after this time, your body won’t recognize and fight any new diseases that you encounter.  Dr. Richie’s research interest is in either keeping the thymus from involution OR being able to restart the thymus’ ability to produce new T cells through a motif on an outer thymus cell’s DNA.  While talking to her today, she made the comment that they basically have this theory explained by data, and now are just looking for a way to make it happen in the animal model.  If her lab group can actually pull of ‘restarting’ the thymus, elderly susceptability to common diseases like the flu and TB would be irraticated.  IRRATICATED!!!!!

…And I could be one of those partners in that lab.  Pretty cool, huh?

Oooh, I’m so ready to get back to CenTx.  It’s going to be an AWESOME fall. 

That shock wore off and turned to pure joy though.  It was absolutely wonderful to spend the weekend bumming around this stinky little city with him.  Even though I did want to kill him at first for not giving me fair warning of his arrival, and then making me stay up till 11pm to pick his butt up from the airport, I really enjoyed having him in person.  And it was like pulling stitches to have to let him get on that plane to Dallas this afternoon.  I already miss him terribly, and have been walking around the house in a daze since he left.  Even my dad has been worried about my zombie-like mood.

But let me back up a little and tell you WHY I was so unhappy on Friday.  My mother volunteered me to substitute for a pre-k class at her private school.  “Easy money!” I thought.  I taught pre-k during the 04′, 05′ Summer camps, and Bible schools at this same Church, and understood basically what I was getting into. Boy was I wrong.  The class I subbed for was apparently the WORST class at the school, and yelled and cried and misbehaved so much that I couldn’t hear out of my left ear for 2 hours after class was over.  I should have been clued in that something was amiss when the teachers I did know apologized and gave me hugs after I uttered the name of the teacher I was filling in for… That’s never a good sign. 

So, Bryan could tell I was frustrated, and quickly getting into a state of total inebriation that afternoon over AIM, and made the rash decision to fly to El Paso that evening.  It ended up being just what the doctor ordered, since he was able to meet one of my best friends from high school, Arlynn, and then bum around the Canutes outlet mall with me.  (Which I found out that I’ve lost enough weight to fit into a jean size 6!!Woot Woot!!)

My boyfriend is insane, but I love him dearly.  He always seems to know just what to do to cheer me up.   Even if its a bit unorthadox. 

My relationship is finally over…  with Baylor. 

 The past weekend was a whirlwind of activities, from family arriving, graduating, packing, partying, etc.  While I was tired nearly the entire time, it was so wonderful to have people that I love and cherish so much around to celebrate this culmination of my trials at this university.  Looking back, it is easy to see how much I have grown, from a skiddish, do-right freshmen all alone in Central Texas to the driven, independant, and sometimes crazy woman I (feel I) am today. The change is rather amazing to see within myself, and I know that my past four years of struggling have been well worth it.  I have figured out who I am. 

For the next two months I will be spending my time in El Paso with my parents.  My dad asked me to come home for the summer, which he would never do if it were not for some really good reason.  For those of you who don’t know, I haven’t moved home in over two years; my last two summers were spent at school, working on my thesis.  It seems that my parents needed to have some ‘Michelle Time’ before I truly do move out on my own.  They sold it to me as a means to pad my bank account while I pay no rent and work.  As for myself, I am mildly dreading the next few weeks, since I have a)lost my freedom and b)lost visual contact with Bryan.    And NO BRYAN, I WILL NOT GO BUY A WEBCAM.

Aside from that, life is going rather well.  I am slowly destressing from classes, and becoming quite excited about graduate school.  I understand now that some greater being really did have a hand in directing my life towards research, for it has become both my sanity and passion.  I can see that the next few years are going to be awesome, and its all going to be for my dreams.  How cool is that?

Hopefully now Bryan will begin to look for employment in Austin, and we can begin the next leg of our wild journey as close friends.  One thing at a time, one thing at a time. 

 :)