greetings from sunny arizona! this is krista the sunburned lobster-girl, checking in to say hola and give a quick update...

spent the weekend in california with friends of dana's and their two CUTE little boys; hung out on the beach and had a really great time. we got back last night, and today i'm at work with dana trying not to get in the way. it's pretty hot here, but bearable since it's not humid at all (there's something to that whole "it's not the heat, it's the humidity" thing...). though it's barely been over 100 degrees since i got here, and i don't think lack of humidity can save 112 degrees from being anything but hellacious [this is clearly all in Fahrenheit, for all you non U.S.-ers out there ;)]. anyway...having a really great time and enjoying getting to spend some quality time with dana. i'll check back in and have pictures when i get home :)

busy busy busy!

first off: happy birthday dad! my dad is 52 today. everybody do the happy birthday dad dance!

done dancing? okay. whew have i got a busy week! tomorrow i have to go to the wetland to collect my samples, and jack (my advisor) is coming along to see how i do what i do. then i'm going to the airport to pick up my grandma (yay!) and bring her to my parents' house, where i'll hang out for a while. then i'll come home and clean my tornado-hit apartment and pack. wednesday i have to drive down to jordan cove to collect samples, then come back and do a buttload of lab work. then wednesday night is craft night at sandra's, and i'm going to finish my quilt. i'll probably have to pack more when i get home. thursday i have class, then i'm heading back down to my parents for the night so my dad can bring me to the airport friday morning, because i'm going to arizona to see dana for 10 whole days!!! and by the way, the weather forecast for tempe, az looks like this:

The forecast for friday looks like this:

a smidge hotter than i'm used to, but that's okay, because i get to spend 10 whole days with dana :). so obviously, i won't be posting. but i promise i'll have lots and lots of pictures when i get back!

today was sad...i helped lisa pack up her moving van. tomorrow she leaves for lake placid. i am going to miss my babycakes so. much. i cried the whole way home. my little jeep is going to have to learn the drive to upstate ny from here...

forgot to mention this...after all the turmoil and strife, i wound up with a B+ in stats (who rocked a 94.5 on the final? me! i did!), and an A- in remote sensing. hooray...and now, a bit of a reprieve until the end of august...

may 16th. my little brother is 18 years old today.

my "little" brother, who's over 6 feet tall. my "little" brother, who is graduating high school in month. my "little" brother, who is going to nyc next weekend with his band because they got studio time and are going to make an honest-to-goodness cd. yikes. somwhere along the line, rob grew up. and *fast*. i won't say that it feels like it was just yesterday that he was born, because that's silly. i was six years old when he was born, and that feels like a million years ago. but that's on the krista-scale. on the rob-scale...i don't know. maybe he should be 12. i'll even say that 15 seems reasonable. but 18? i got engaged when i was 18. yeah, i was too young, and that's why i'm not married right now...but still. i feel like he shouldn't be there yet. and i guess in a way it makes me examine my age a little more closely. i don't want to fall into the cliche of "oh my god, i'm getting old"; generally, the thought of turning 25 in a few months doesn't phase me at all. and since most of my friends are already 25 or several years past it, i feel silly feeling like this is sort of a benchmark year...even if i "did" feel old, most of the people i know would laugh me out of the room for saying so (notice how i'm not naming names? you know who you are ;). may the bravest of you leave a comment...). anyway...i'm rambling now. i guess the point i'm getting toward is holy crow does time fly, and i hope that i can at least look back when i catch my breath and feel like i've *done* something. i hope all of us can.

cheers, and happy birthday to my little brother...

having seen this, i can die amused. while the picture itself is worth a thousand words, i think it's the caption that really does it for me.

that's one righteous mullet, you squishy little redneck, you. who's a rock star? that's right. you are.

thanks, matt...

weekend: fantastic :). dana got to meet more of my friends and spend some time with my family (yay!), and he loved his birthday presents (yay!). i was a little worried that i wouldn't get the flies tied in time, but two guys from my office took pity on me and showed me how on friday, so i managed to get a few done, plus the ones they tied while teaching me that they donated. short trips like this are such a tease...i have such a wonderful time with him that they seem to fly by even faster than their already-short duration. but i'll be out there in two and a half weeks, so it's all good. and hey--it's already been five months, so who's to say that the next year won't fly right by?

check out the web page for pictures from this weekend, plus some more chester shots...

happy birthday, dana :)

chester's here!

i brought chester home last night, and he adjusted so quickly that it was almost like he'd never not lived here :). as soon as he saw me yesterday he started chirping and meowing at me, and he's been exploring every nook and cranny of the apartment. i can't even begin to tell you how much i missed having a warm little cat body curled up next to me at night. i live near a fire department, and the alarm freaks him out a little bit, but otherwise he's a pretty happy, purring, rolling-around-with-his-catnip-mouse little guy. yay!

dana's birthday present (well, half of it, anyway) came in the mail today, and it's very cool...i'd tell you all about it, but i know he reads this and i don't want to spoil the surprise. you were hoping i would, weren't you dana? ha! no dice. you'll see in a few days :D

finished my stats exam (40 pages long!) today, and Lisa's coming over in a few to partake of a few much deserved beers. that's all for now...later gators!

i have *so much* going on this week! holy crow! i've got a presentation for my advanced remote sensing class on wednesday (and two assignments to do and a portfolio of maps to create before then), chester is coming on wednesday (!!!!!), my stats final is due friday (ugh), and dana's flying in on saturday(!!!!!). *and* saturday morning is the masters/phd graduation, so i'm going to go to that and cheer and rah rah for lisa and connie and erik and mark and mike. then sunday is mother's day, and monday is dana's birthday (and the day he heads back to AZ :P ). *and* for the next two weeks, i'm working a few shifts squeezed in at the animal hospital b/c they're short staffed. did i mention that i'm on the verge of losing my mind? but it's all good, because come this weekend i'm going to have a snuggly wonderful kitty and an incredibly awesome hottie boyfriend here in my apartment.

life is good :)

blatantly stolen from april...

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English

40% Yankee

5% Dixie

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

ahahahahaha! *wipes tears*

what? oh, like you wouldn't have bought it, too. please.

happy earth day!

so, as i'm writing this, it's not technically earth day (april 22nd) yet. but i'm not getting up early enough to do it before i go to school tomorrow, so let's just pretend. a few things you can do today to raise your awareness:

~find out how big your ecological footprint is
~learn about ways to help prevent non point source pollution
~find out how to help keep our watersheds clean and healthy
~find some native plants to plant in your garden
~get informed about pollution in your area...search the National Priorities List to find priority spots among the known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants throughout the united states and its territories

go outside, take a walk, breathe some fresh air, recycle a bottle, plant a tree, pick up some trash...get out there and do *something* today!

bacon bandages. you can thank jim for those :)

i planted dahlias in pretty pots on my porch on friday! unfortunately, they don't seem to be doing very well. i knew there was a pretty good chance that i'd kill them, but i didn't think they'd be dead when i woke up the next morning. and yet, there they were, all wilty and sad on saturday morning. i thought maybe it had gotten too cold out, so i brought them in and put them by a sunny window, but the downhill slide seems to have accelerated too quickly. i think i have massacred the flowers. :(

today was the college of agriculture and natural resources "battle of the majors" (natural resources management and engineering, animal science, landscape architecture, and plant science). it was a big field-day type event with tug of war, an egg toss, a milk chugging contest, and things in that general vein. here are some pictures of team NRME Grads...we had a lot of fun and did really well in some of the events, so it was a good day. and then, of course, i went inside and did work for a few hours, which was not fun but was productive. which is good. overall, it was a lovely weekend despite my black thumb of death wreaking havoc on innocent fauna. *sigh*

pictures of the new jeep here, here, and here!

i have tinted windows. i'm ghetto. :D

goodbye blue jeep, hello green jeep...

today i sold my shiny blue wrangler and got my new (to me, anyway) shiny green wrangler. it's a 2000, dark green with half doors and a tan soft top...and it's stick. which makes me feel even more "rugged" than i already was, per the farm services guys at uconn. it's in really great shape, low miles, and i got a pretty great price on it b/c the dealer selling it wanted to buy my jeep pretty badly. and, best of all, it's mine. mine mine mine. no cosigner, no co-owner, just plain mine. and that feels really, really good.

i'll post pictures tomorrow :)

~*~*Welcome to the world, Tristan Benjamin Renshaw!*~*~

my friends chris and jody had their baby boy this evening (April 4th)! i am SO EXCITED to meet this baby :)

everybody say 'hi baby tristan'!

okay, okay, i just posted like an hour ago. whatever. i had to post this for all of the old school 'oregon trail' fans out there. and april, this one is for you :)
[see all the shirts here]

i am so ready for spring. we had a few teaser days; mid to high 50's and sunny...but i want real live spring. sunshine and flowers and flip flops. flip flops are my shoe weakness. generally, i don't care so much about shoes. september through march/april (april this year...), i basically wear my lace-up boots, which are the exact same lace-up boots that i've had for the past 4 years, b/c i wear them until they die and then re-buy the exact same pair. but come spring, i am the flip flop queen. i have a flip flop for every occasion. no, really. i do. it's sick. i have green flips and black flips and brown flips. i have suede flips and corduroy flips and straw flips and cloth flips. i have thin soled flips, thick soled flips, and wedge flips that make me supah dupah tall [side note to dana: not taller than you, don't worry ;)]. it's craziness. and now, i see that old navy has made april third (tomorrow) the First Official Day of Flip Flops. so, you know, i *have* to wear them. it's an official day, for crying out loud. not only that, but apparently, they're also conducting a flip flop model search. you fill out a form and send them a picture of your feet, and they decide who's feet are most "flip flop worthy." psh. my feet are *so* flip flop worthy (stop with the short toe jokes! stop it!). you never know; it could be my life's calling. i'd be the most over-educated flip flop model east of the mississippi, i can tell you that much. and west, for that matter.

currently laughing my butt off at engrish.com...this, this and this are a few of my favorites so far...

i hate when my batteries go exploring.