it's 9:30 on a sunday morning. it's still fairly cool out--around 80, I guess, which feels cool compared to 100 degrees. i went running this morning when dana left to go golfing, and then i sat on the back patio and ate my breakfast. it's nice when it's cooler out, because the patio is like another room of the house. and while i was sitting there eating my grape nuts, sitting indian style in a canvas directors chair and listening to the birds chirping and looking out at our backyard and the flowering mexican bird of paradise trees, i think i "got" part of this whole arizona thing. everyone keeps telling me "just get through the summer, then you'll see. the rest of the year is why we put up with the summer." and it's still summer, sort of--still hot outside, still hitting 100 degrees or higher. but i can tell that it's starting to change over. it cools down at night now, so when you're up early you get to see the mythical 70's before the sun burns through. and there's something to be said for sitting outside enjoying your breakfast in your running shorts and a sports bra on the first day of october. i miss new england fall...i really, really do. i miss the leaves changing, i miss the first cool days where you break out a sweater, and maybe a scarf, just for the morning chill. i miss my body feeling like the season is changing, and wanting to bake pumpkin muffins and zucchini bread and foods that make me think of fall. but arizona fall, while it's not quite here yet, is going to be pretty wonderful too, i think. now, we'll just have to see about winter...

besides, how can i complain about anything when i have a boyfriend who carves birds out of apples?

Rhacodactylus_ciliatus

Rhacodactylus_ciliatus
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh.

ello. *bat bat*. i am kreesta's crested gecko *bat bat*. i do not have a name yet, but that weel not stop me from batting my eyelashes at you *bat bat*.

okay, enough of that. i figured if he was going to be outwardly flirtatious and batting his eyelashes, then he ought to have an exotic accent to go along with it. anywho...this is my new crested gecko!! dana surprised me with him last night as an early birthday present! this picture isn't actually him (i stole it off the wiki site), but that's what he looks like. i'll post actual pictures of him soon!

i am officially 26 years old today. time flies when you're having fun, eh? 25 was a pretty stressful year, but wrapped up well--let's hope year 26 is relatively stress free. relatively.

chadlisa

chadlisa
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh.

i am sososososososo excited for this weekend! chad and lisa are getting married, and dana and i are flying to NY on thursday night and staying until monday night. i can't wait to see everyone, and i am so excited and thrilled and happy and honored to be standing up there with my babycakes when she says her "i do's" :D

hopefully this week will fly by...today already (mostly) has, tomorrow and wednesday are meetings all day (which sounds awful, but always seems to make the day go faster to me), and i only work until noon on thursday. whoo hoo, i can't wait! last weekend was fun (ladies' weekend at the camelback inn in scottsdale, and dancing at e4). i even danced on a platform whilst a hip-hop song about backing one's rear end up played (who can guess?). and i wasn't intoxicated, either :P.

someone, somewhere, for some ungodly reason, decided that bacon, corn syrup, peanut butter, and TANG had gone far too long without being married in one harmonious taste sensation.

please excuse me whilst i vomit. blargh.

redneckdogs2

you might be a redneck if...

redneckdogs2

dana and i were behind this truck on the highway last weekend. to be fair, the dogs seemed perfectly comfortable, but still...

for my engineer friends:

Engineer #1: What the hell were you thinking when you wrote this code?
Engineer #2: Boobs.
Engineer #1: Huh?!
Engineer #2: Truthfully, it's likely I was thinking about boobs.

Columbia, Maryland

via Overheard in the Office, Jul 28, 2006

in other news...the home internet connection is notsohot. we're supposed to have wireless, but i have to be hooked up to the antenna (by a wire) to access the internet. that is, when there's actually a signal. which is pretty much never. so i'm thinking that we're probably going to switch to cable intenet and just get a router so the laptop is wireless. in the meantime, if you've been emailing me and I haven't responded, it's because i have to way to check gmail (or any web-based email, for that matter). someday we'll be all settled in with functioning internet. and maybe even furniture. you'll see!

finally! pictures of our house! check 'em out!

a very interesting photo set of rake art photographed via kite. not mine, but i thought it was pretty neat...

i know. i know. it's been forever. i will defend myself by saying that we just got home internet last week, but i know i'm still lame.

so...where to start? i left connecticut with erika, lukin (the dog) and athena (the snake) on may 20th, and aside from seriously wanting to kick omaha's ass had a pretty issue-free trip out. we arrived in arizona on the 24th (that would be 4 straight days of 11 to 12 hour driving, thanksverymuch) and erika hung out for a few days, then flew back home. i know i've said it to her, but i'll say it again: thank you so much for driving out with me, erika!

i started my new job on june 5th, and it's been great. everyone is friendly, i like the work i'm doing and i've already had some great opportunities (like, for example, rafting down the colorado river in the grand canyon for two days). I get to do a lot of traveling (within the state, but still), so I don't have to worry about fermenting at my desk, which is really nice. I don't think I'd handle a job like that well.

dana and i moved into our house in the beginning of july. it's a cute little 3-bed 2-bath with a fenced in backyard (yay for lukin!) and a covered patio and lots of big windows for chester to sit and look longingly out of. i promise i'll take pictures soon (i really was going to this evening, but it's hot and i don't feel like straightening up). and lord knows i have to straighten up first so you all think the house is always that clean ;). actually, we've been really good about keeping everything neat. we're pretty good at this whole "living together" thing :).

okay--you're all up to speed! pictures (and more frequent posts) will be forthcoming!

i'm not dead!

but i am at work, so i can't really update. in short: everything is going very well, dana and i are in our new house, hopefully i'll have internet at home next week and can update then. later gators! i miss you, CT-ers!

anyone who is interested in really cool jewelry and funky art should go here and buy something from brooke, because she is super talented and wonderful and you'll automatically be cooler if you own something made by her. :)

i'm here i'm here i'm here!

the trip out was a lot of fun--thank you again, erika, for coming with me :). the driving days were long (11 to 12 hours each) and omaha was not kind to us, but all in all it was a good time, and i got to hang out with some very cool ladies (and cute kiddies!) in chicago, too! we pulled in to tempe around 8 pm on tuesday evening, and erika flew back to ct on friday.

dana and i are still staying in his current house right now, but we should be able to move in to the new house later this week. we went yesterday and walked around the park that it's near, which has a decent sized lake and picnic tables and lots of grassy areas. definitely a city-type park, but it's very cute and looks like a nice place to walk the dog in the evenings (probably while dana's fishing :) ). lukin is acclimating just fine, and really likes to eat the pecans that drop out in the yard. there's no pecan tree at the new house, but maybe i can smuggle some nuts over and hide them in the yard for him :).

today i'm trying to catch up on emails and get all of my financial stuff in order. hopefully i can get my trailer o' stuff dropped off this afternoon. i have some pictures from the trip, but i don't know where the cable for my camera is, so it'll be a few more days until i can post any of them. for now, i just wanted to say hello to everyone, and let you know that i arrived safely (though if you read the comments from the previous post, you already knew that--how cute is my boyfriend?). i'll be in touch with everyone soon!

just wanted to post something prefacing what is sure to be a lack of posting for the next week at least...

so it's wednesday night--oh, wait. thursday morning, technically. anyway. thursday is finish packing the trailer and clean the apartment day, which should hopefully be done by early afternoon. then i've got some western-ct errands to run, and am spending the night at my parents'. then it's back up here (but only to uconn, not the apartment) on friday, and back down to erika and rich's on friday evening. saturday morning, we leave for arizona.

day one: ct to toledo, oh.
day two: toledo, oh to omaha, ne by way of chicago.
day three: omaha, ne to trinidad, co.
day four: trinidad, co to tempe, az.

and then, my friends, i will have officially moved. don't know how long it's going to take to get settled out there, so i may not be posting for a bit. i'll catch up with you all soon, though.

i have taken my bed apart and am sleeping on the floor.

i think i am going to cough up a lung.

my apartment looks like a tornado hit it.

holy crap, when did i get that many pairs of shoes?

these are my random thoughts for today.

i love me some pearl jam :)

rob and i went to see pearl jam in harford earlier this evening, and it was such a great show! i'm really loving their new stuff, and they played some of my favorite older songs as well (including their usual closer, yellow ledbetter). so good.

last night april and mark threw me a going away party. many martinis were consumed. got to see some faces i haven't seen in a while, and was really touched by the thoughtful gifts people brought. seriously, presents weren't necessary. but seriously, i love them ;).

i just gave away my mattress and boxspring. tomorrow evening, i have to pack. a lot. uf.

it's been a busy week, and it's not going to be letting up any time soon. but that's okay, because the stress level is finally dropping. and it's been a long, long, LONG time since i've been able to say that.

to recap: last saturday was graduation, and on monday, dana, chester and i flew to arizona. tuesday was dana's birthday (happy birthday again!). wednesday morning, i met with the people who want to hire me and got the building and co-worker meeting tour (just need to have all my paperwork approved by the HR powers-that-be, and it's official). wednesday afternoon, we went and looked at a house that it looks like we will be living in (yay!). i flew out of phoenix at 6:30 this morning and got home at four (hey, who ate three hours of my day??), and i've pretty much been sitting in my comfy bowl chair with mexican blanket, surrounded by tissues ever since. i think i'm going to have to go to the doctor tomorrow, because i've been sick since monday and i felt like someone was stabbing me in the ears on the plane today. not fun.

looking forward: tomorrow, i have to go buy the ridiculously expensive paper that my thesis needs to be printed on, polish up the final edits, print it all out in triplicate, and then run around and get the signatures that i already got last week, but on the wrong, non-ridiculously expensive paper. tomorrow night, par-tay at april and mark's, where i'll probably end up crying because it's the last time i'll be together with everybody before i move. saturday is the pearl jam concert with rob (which is looking like it's going to be very, very soggy). sunday is a get-together at the 'rents. monday, the freight trailer gets dropped off for me to pack (which means that between now and then, i need to pack up my whole apartment). eek. next saturday...poof. i leave for arizona.

i swear, just yesterday i was saying "i can't believe i have a whole 'nother year of grad school." crazy. post-college life, here i come.

I PASSED!

i've got some revisions to do, but you may all start calling me by my proper and offical title: krista leigh 0sterberg, master of science.

:D

my defense is in THREE DAYS. really, more like two, because it's sunday evening now, and my defense is wednesday morning. i'm so excited and nervous. i'm thrilled to finally be done, but to be honest, i mostly just feel ill over the thought of being closed off in a room with my committee and questioned for two hours after i give my presentation. i've worked so hard for this, and i know it'll all be alright in the end (though i certainly expect that i'll have some revisions to make)...but i can't help but be nervous.

i got rid of my couch yesterday, and i've packed a few boxes. this whole moving thing is suddenly becoming very real. we're not sure where we'll be living yet, but we're looking...and i have a pretty good job prospect, which i'll go into more detail on in the next few days hopefully. three weeks. that's crazy. time is flying by so incredibly quickly...

okay. enough of that. i need to practice my presentation, and study for the question session. off to make those open channel flow hydraulics equations nice and fresh in my brain...

i've started up a flickr photo set of lukin pictures. because i am becoming That Dog Owner. well, not quite...i'm not going to dress him up in sweaters or anything. and he's got a tough act to follow (chester, my supremely well behaved kitty cat). but i'm pretty sure he might be the cutest puppy ever.

:)

lukin2

lukin2
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh.

meet my new puppy :)

his name is lukin, and he's a 6 (almost 7) month old welsh pembroke corgi. he's so incredibly sweet and adorable and smart, and when i call him he comes running and his big corgi ears flop all over the place. seriously, you could pass out from that much cute.

i can't have a puppy in my apartment, so he's going to be living at the breeder's until i leave. luckily, that's only a few minutes away, and i can go and pick him up whenever. my plan is to have him days and bring him back in the evenings, but i might try keeping him here overnight. he's not much of a barker, so i might be able to get away with it. we shall see.