Crafted-It-Forward

Many, many (many) moons ago, I posted about participating in a Craft-It-Forward, in which one person sent me a homemade gift, and in exchange, I would pass on homemade gifts to 5 other people.

Rebekah kicked it off and sent me an amazing lemonade sugar scrub.  I LOVE the scent of lemon, so I really, really enjoyed the scrub.  I’ve been meaning to make some of my own!

I also saw that Amy was participating, so we agreed to send each other something as well.  Amy sent along ridiculously amazingly delicious Oregon Blackberry Jam (so good, I forwent the scone and just at the jam out of the jar with a spoon) and some yummy vanilla shortbread.

For my outgoing crafty gifts, I decided to make scarves.  Since it was supposed to be a surprise, I just asked each person their favorite colors, and tried to pick something out of my stash that matched.  I hope everyone has been enjoying their scarves, especially in this extra cold and snowy winter!

Rina over at Gotta Little Space wasn’t picky and listed a variety of colors, so off went a cozy blue, purple, and black variegated scarf in her direction.

Geeka said she liked green, so I abided to her wishes, even though I was super tempted to make her a black and gold STEELERS themed scarf!

Profgrrrrl likes eggplantish-purple and sage green, and since she lives in a warmer-weather climate, I tried to do a more open, lacier scarf which wouldn’t be quite so heavy as the others I made.

Lucy Pigpuppet  said she liked rainbow stripes or anything “bright and happy-looking.”  I had the perfect yarn in mind as soon as I read that!

Amy said she was on a yellow kick, but unfortunately, I had no suitable yellow yarn in my stash.  I gave her a list of colors to chose from (which I admit, must be tricky when you have no idea what you are receiving!) and she picked a pumpkin orange.  

And, lastly, Jenna finally received her scarf last week!  A girl after my own heart, Jenna said her favorite colors were black and white (not that I don’t enjoy colors, but I can’t think of any color combination classier and more timeless than black and white!).  Jenna even posted a picture on her own blog of her sporting the new scarf!  I hope it keeps her (and her adorable baby bump) toasty warm throughout the cold streak in Dallas! 

Thanks for your patience and waiting so long, and I hope you enjoyed participating as much as I did in the Craft-It-Forward!

(If anyone is interested in pattern information, all the details are on my Ravelry page.  And if you’re on Ravelry, friend me so I can see what you are working on, too!)

Holiday Cards

Since I am stuck on the couch, foot up, following surgery*, I figured I may as well use the time to get some work done on my holiday cards… especially considering that Hanukkah is just a week a way (I know, I can’t believe it either). 

Every year, I hand make my holiday cards.  I used to do intricate, hand-cut cards, but once Husband and I became engaged, and our holiday card list for our combined family and friends stretched to over 60, I just didn’t have the time anymore.  Instead, I now screen print my holiday cards using my Gocco. 

Husband and I are Jewish, but we have many friends and some family who are not, so I always go for a generic holiday/Chrismukkah/non-denominational themed cards so as not to offend anyone.

  
2007 Holiday Cards

2008 Holiday Cards

What’s in store for this year?  Well, I’m not entirely sure yet, but Husband suggested a theme which highlights each of our respective cities.  I’m not sure if it’s a fun highlight, or depressing to send everyone a card saying “hey! look! we live in different cities!”, but it’s the first time he’s ever expressed an opinion one way or another about cards, so I think I’m going to go with it.

Since I seem to have so much more contact with many of my blog friends than my real life friends, it only seemed fair to include you on my holiday card list.  So, if you would like to be added to my holiday card list, send me an email (see that “Contact” link up there on the menu bar?  Click away!) with your address, and a card you will receive.

*Outpatient foot surgery, but I have direct orders to keep my foot up and stay off my feet, lest I rip out my deep stitches.  Details to follow.

Laboratory Reproduction

There is something mysteriously fertile about my lab.   In the four years in which I have been in the lab, three babies have been born, and we are not a particularly large lab by many standards.  I do not know the status of one, one was a completely unplanned surprise, and one was a truly sought-after “miracle” baby in which the couple had tried for quite some time for a child and had been discussing adoption as an alternative when they discovered they were pregnant (see? mysterious chemical in the air to aid with fertility!).  On one hand, this ability to magically impregnate anybody could be quite useful as I know I will have quite a difficult time when Husband and I do decide to have children.  On the other hand, having a child by myself while working a bazillion hours a week towards my Ph.D. with a husband living 3 hours away in a residency program sounds less than ideal.  That said, my mother-in-law has so generously offered to move down here to D.C. and live with me to take care of any children we may have, while my husband remains up in Philly.  Hmm, raising a child with my MIL instead of living with my husband?  I think I’ll take my chances and wait for children until AFTER I’m done with graduate school and have moved up to Philadelphia, thankyouvermuch.

That said, last month the lab had a baby shower for the post-doc who most recently gave birth just this week to the newest lab baby, who made his appearance a full month early.  Thankfully, it sounds like both mother and son are doing well, though the wee one has quite a few pounds to gain since he came into the world sooner than expected.  As as become my tradition for everyone I know, I crocheted a baby blanket as a gift for the parents-to-be.

I have to confess that I was a little nervous – in the past, I’ve always gifted blankets to extremely close friends or family members; the kind of individuals who would naturally appreciate something handmade, just because of how close they were to me, regardless of the actual gift itself.  I’ve also always had to mail out the blanket since they’ve always been sent to a friend far away, so I’ve never had to be there to see someone open it and perhaps see the look on their face if they were disappointed with it – this was my first “live reveal”, and in front of quite a number of people to boot, including both the PIs of the lab.  Honestly, a little part of me was wondering if they would think that if I had time to be crocheting blankets, then clearly I wasn’t spending enough time in the lab, and needed to be working harder.

I had nothing to worry about.  The blanket wound up being a huge hit at the shower – in fact, it even inspired my PIs wife to run upstairs and pull out the baby quilts that friends had made for her children and she had hung on to, and she went on and on about how meaningful handmade gifts are and how she would never be able to get rid of them because they were so special since someone made them specifically for her children.  The post-doc loved it, especially since I make my baby blankets super-sized (this one was 4’ by 4’) so it will be big enough for both her and her son to fit under together for years to come in the winter.  The women in attendance all marveled at my craftiness and discussed how their mothers/grandmothers/other relatives knew how to knit or crochet and they wished they knew how, and the men all sympathetically asked if Husband wound up having to spend a lot of time driving me to craft stores (fortunately for him, he doesn’t; I order most of my yarn online).  And as for my PI; well, he didn’t even notice that I made a baby blanket.  He was so busy playing with the son of a former graduate student in the lab that he saw the blanket out of the corner of his eye and thought that I bought it, and missed the 20 minutes of conversation that followed about the fact that I made it.  Apparently, his wife continued to discuss the blanket later that night though, which was when he realized that it was handmade, and the next day in lab he pulled me aside to state that he was so impressed that I have so many hidden talents and am able to lead such a balanced life.  As Husband loves to describe me… jack of all trades, but master of absolutely nothing useful whatsoever.

But now, for the first time in 3 years, I have no friends or family members who are pregnant, so my baby blanket sweat shop has come to a temporary close until I get word from the stork that there will be a delivery on the way.  In the meantime, I guess that means it is time that I get busy making something for the recipients of my crafty giveaway!

Free Gifts!

Recently, Anne over at Elizabeth Anne Designs Living started up a bit of a “craft-it-forward” handmade giveaway.  As I will be receiving something from her, I’m following up my end of the bargain, and offering something up to you.

Here is the fine print:

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:

• I make no guarantees that you will like what I make but I will do my best.
• It will be done in the next couple months (possibly longer on my behalf…. research does come first, after all)
• You have no clue what it’s going to be - that’s the fun part!

It could be artwork, handmade stationary personalized for you, baked goods from my kitchen, or something crocheted or knitted. What will it be? You’ll have to wait and see! I reserve the right to do something completely bizarre or completely normal.

Here’s the fine print:
In return, all you need to do is post this text into a note of your own and make 5 things for 5 others. What could be more fun!  Some ideas you could do for others: artwork, CD’s, Burn a DVD, write a poem, crochet a scarf, make a mini book, send a photograph (a printed one, not e-mailed. etc…).

If you are interested, leave a comment below with your email address (if you don’t have a blog-based email address and are not comfortable leaving your personal email address, you can also email me at ethidiumbromide (at) gmail (dot) com. 

If more than 5 people are interested… well… go ahead and comment anyway.  I can’t promise… but maybe later on in the year if friends, family, and coworkers stop reproducing and the baby blanket sweatshop that is my living room can close for a few months and I have a lull in crafting projects, you just might find me knocking on your digital doorstep asking if you’d still like a little gift!

Post-Call Valentine’s Day Waffles

Growing up, Valentine’s Day was always one of my favorite holidays. I don’t remember how, or when, or why the tradition started, but every year from the time I was in elementary school up through my junior high years, I had a big sleepover with all my closest girlfriends. My parents sacrificed a night of sleep (my father still talks about the night he learned that there is actually no sleep at a sleepover) so that 20 of my closest friends could spend the night in sleeping bags, giggling so loudly from the downstairs living room that my parents could hear us all night long all the way upstairs in their bedroom. We would play Twister and watch movies and eat heart-shaped cupcakes baked by my mother, and even to this day, friends that I lost touch with ten years ago suddenly sent me messages on Facebook yesterday saying that they still associate Valentine’s Day with my annual sleepovers. Even in high school, my friends and I would always make cards and cookies to distribute around, or buy candy-grams for each other. My freshman year of college, Valentine’s Day meant spending the evening curled up under a blanket with my closest friend at that point, watching girly movies and sharing a big bowl of popcorn.

For me, Valentine’s Day has always meant far more about loving friends than romantic love. Maybe that’s why I never understood the whole miserable, bitter “Single’s Awareness Day” attitude – whether or not I was attached, I’ve always loved taking the time out to tell my friends how much I love them and spending time with them if possible.

I think this is why it didn’t bother me that Husband was on call all day yesterday, and I didn’t see him at all on Valentine’s Day. In fact, it upset everyone else far more than it upset me – people seemed to place such importance on what we would be doing for our first Valentine’s Day as newlyweds and were so disappointed to discover that we weren’t going to be together – and were downright upset when I said that I didn’t really mind. By this point, he’s been on call through my birthday, our 1 month anniversary, our 3 month anniversary, New Years Eve, will be on call on our 1 year anniversary, and will miss so much more once he moves away… so really, what’s Valentine’s Day in the grand scheme of things? I spent the majority of my day in lab, sneaking away for a few hours to catch Confessions of a Shoapholic with two friends, which really made it the ideal Valentine’s Day for me – time with two friends that I adore, and rarely get to see (the whole ten hours in lab with proteins that don’t cooperate was kind of less than ideal, though).

Even though I wouldn’t be seeing him, I still wanted to try to do something for my husband. With Husband’s $250,000 medical school debt, we don’t really do gifts for each other for birthdays or Hanukkah, so gifts for Valentine’s Day were certainly out of the question (making payments on his 8% loan serves as all our gifts to each other for these occasions… and to think, before I got married, I had zero debt whatsoever!). So, I put on my Crafty Cap and decided to get work. I’ve mentioned before that Husband is doing his intern year in medicine, but I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned that afterward, he’ll be going into radiology. And thus, I decided to embroider him a little card to pack with his lunch… with a chest x-ray. What more could a future radiologist need? Apparently, it was quite the hit amongst all the residents in the ICU last night (Husband’s only complaint was why is he in normal clothes – shouldn’t he be in a white coat?) Of course, he said that now he can’t wait to see what I put together for next year, so I’m already accepting suggestions for radiology-themed Valentine’s gifts for 2010. FYI, embroidering a rib cage is slightly more complicated than one might think. I suggest not trying to do it freehanded.

(Erm, excuse the fact that the feet were cut off accidentally and taped back together. 4am paper cutter malfunction.)

This morning, I headed to the lab early to time the loading of my protein on the column with when he would be coming home from call, and made him chocolate waffles. I have a great Belgian waffle recipe that I will share in the future, but since Husband LOVES chocolate, I decided to spice things up and try making an all-chocolate version for a change. Apparently, they were a big hit (I passed on them, since I’m not a chocolate person myself).

Chocolate Fudge Waffles
Makes 2 Waffles

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1/6 cup butter
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup milk (I use fat-free)
• 1/4 cup sour cream (I use fat-free)

Directions:

1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. In a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter over low heat.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, granulated sugar, and cocoa powder.
4. In a large bowl, beat together egg, milk, sour cream, and vanilla by hand. Gradually stir in flour mixture and melted chocolate and butter. Stir until smooth.
5. Grease/oil/spray waffle iron per directions for individual iron. Pour enough batter to fill 2/3 of the waffle iron (half of batter). Push batter out to the edges with a spoon. Cook until crisp on edges and a dark rich brown (I have a Waring-Pro Belgian waffle maker with 6 heat settings; I cooked mine at setting 4).
6. My husband topped his with maple syrup, but if I had one, I would have opted for whipped cream. Or a sprinkle of powdered sugar. Or maybe some vanilla ice cream…

101 in 1001

I first read about the 1001 Days Project on Sherry's blog. The idea is simple -- come up with a list of 101 things you want to accomplish in 1001 days (roughly 2.75 years). I intended to start my list on my 25th birthday, but things were busy and hectic in June, and my list was stuck around 50. Time passed, and I forgot about it altogether... and last night, at a New Year's party, discussions of resolutions reminded me about the list. So while in lab today, I finished it up, and I'm officially starting today.


I'm bending the rules a bit -- not all of my tasks have a result that is clearly measurable for success. I'm not looking to do things short term (i.e., drink 8 glasses of water everyday for 2 months), but rather to do things frequently enough that by the time the 1001 days rolls around, they have become part of my daily routine and are normal for me. But hey, this is my list for myself, so I'm going to do it how I please.

I'll update on this page as tasks are completed -- follow along with my success [link on blog navigation bar].

Between January 1, 2009 and September 29, 2011, I will...

Professional:

1. Learn to love science again.
2. Write up experiment protocols and results for each experiment within 48 hours of completion.
3. Attend seminars on a regular basis (even if it means working 15 hour days to fit seminars around experiments).
4. Do an out-of-the-box, crazy experiment -- logical experiments aren't working, so maybe something crazy will!
   
5. Present a poster at a conference.
6. Submit a paper as a first author and have paper accepted.
7. Clean chemical bench every Friday.
8. Successfully defend thesis -- become Disgruntled Julie, Ph.D.
9. Regardless of when I defend, return to D.C. for graduation ceremonies.
   
10. Figure out what I want to do post-graduate school.
11. Find a job in desired field in Philadelphia area.
    
    Relationships:
    
12. Host a girls' night once a year.
13. Host a Game-a-thon.
14. Host a Dessert-a-thon.
15. Host an old-fashioned sleepover.
    
16. Mail a card or letter to a friend once a month.
17. Learn how to make the most of a long-distance marriage.
    
18. [personal]
    
    Growing Up:
    
19. Remake larger wedding album.
    
20. Move to Philadelphia to live with Husband.
21. Buy a house or condo.
22. Buy/lease/inherit (from Husband) a car if we are not living in a public transportation friendly neighborhood.
23. Find a synagogue we like and become members.
24. Actually drag Husband to services at said synagogue.
    
25. Establish long-term primary care physician in Philadelphia.
26. Make new friends in Philadelphia, but...
27. Keep in touch with old friends and visit as often as possible.
    
28. Purchase remaining items from our wedding registry.
29. Apply for passport with hyphenated last name.
30. Sign up for life insurance with Husband.
31. Draft a living will.
    
    Financial:
    
32. Take spare change to bank.
33. Transfer money to ING savings account on the first of each month.
34. Continue to track all finances in Microsoft Money, and make a better effort to stick to my budget.
    
35. Increase savings account by $10,000.
36. Pay off interest each month on Husband's medical school loans.
37. Have at least 15 "no spend" days per month -- spend absolutely no money at all.
    
    Domestication:
    
38. Bake the perfect challah.
39. Bake the perfect cherry pie.
    
40. Host major holiday dinner at our new abode in Philadelphia.
41. Host a formal dinner party (for no specific reason).
42. Take a cake decorating class.
43. Shampoo carpets in current condo.
44. Send cookie packages to soldiers through Operation Baking GALS.
45. Create a cookbook with favorite recipes.
46. Cook something different each night for a month.
    
    Crafting:
    
47. Use up yarn in stash.
48. Open Etsy shop.
49. Sell something from Etsy shop.
50. Learn to needlepoint.
51. Master knitting in the round.
52. Make blanket for Project Linus.
53. Make blanket for Spirit Jump (and hopefully make a new friend in the process).
    
54. Learn how to quilt.
55. Knit or crochet something for myself -- I've given away everything I've ever made to other people.
56. Hand make holiday cards and send to family and friends every year.
    
57. Create yearly photo books.
    
    Organizing:
58. Clean out closet and donate old clothes.
59. Organize bathroom storage under sink.
60. Organize recipes in Evernote.
61. Print copy of all recipes on recipe cards and store in binders (less potential for disaster than dragging laptop to kitchen every time I cook something new).
    
62. Organize magazines -- scan in articles of interest and recycle remaining magazines.
63. Organize bills from past year.
64. Organize health care paperwork from past year.
65. Organize bank statements.
66. Collect all old cards and mail to St. Jude's Ranch for Children Card Recycling Program.
    
    Health, Fitness, and Appearance:
    
67. Drink 8 glasses of water per day.
68. Floss every day, not just when I have extra time.
69. Take vitamins appropriately -- i.e., split up calcium pills morning and night, not both at the same time.
70. Find a weekday when I can return "home" to central PA to see my family dentist.
    
71. Lose 20 pounds.
72. Work out three times per week.
73. Track what I eat every day.
74. Do not eat after 8pm on weekdays.
    
75. Complete Couch to 5K program.
76. Stretch daily -- make physical therapist proud!
77. [personal]
    
78. Develop a skin care routine to ward off wrinkles.
79. Get over fear of dying hair, and cover up all the incoming grey hairs rather than pluck them until I am bald.
80. Get a fantastic haircut.
81. Donate blood.
    
    Hobbies & Skills:
    
82. Start playing piano again.
83. Complete Project 365.
84. Blog at least once per week.
85. Take a photography course.
86. Learn and feel comfortable using all features on my current dSLR camera.
    
87. Read 100 books.
88. Win my fantasy football league.
    
89. Take golf lessons.
90. Go scuba diving and pursue further advanced certification.
91. Go skiing with my father.
    
92. Learn conversational Hebrew.
93. Re-read the Tanakh, cover-to-cover, in order, on my own time.
    
94. Attend Screen on the Green and picnic with friends.
95. Eat at 15 new restaurants.
    
96. Re-learn how to parallel park -- haven't owned a car in seven years!
97. Back up computer every 2 weeks.
98. Take a real vacation with just Husband to someplace wonderful.
99. Take a family cruise with our parents.
100. Go camping.
     
     
101. Be happy with who I am and the direction my life has taken.
     

Random Ramblings

My absence can be explained by the fact that if I can't say anything nice, I'm not going to say anything at all.... or, the more modernized version... if you don't particularly go out of your way to hide your identity, it is probably a wise idea to refrain from bitching / moaning / complaining / freely speaking your opinions in a public forum which may be discovered by the individuals superior to you about whom you are doing the bitching / moaning / complaining / freely speaking. That said, you can probably gather some idea of how my time in the lab has been lately. However, things seem to be (temporarily) improving and maybe, when I hear back from collaborators and finish running a few preliminary cell studies, there is an actual concrete thesis project looming in the future...

In the meantime, today I completed two milestones.

1) I (finally) finished an afghan I have been working on for the past 21-ish months. It's not that I'm the world's slowest crocheter, it's just, as you can imagine, there is not a lot of free time in my life to sit around and crochet. The pro: it's always nice to finish up a big project. The con: now I have no excuse to not focus on crocheting the kippot/yarmulkes for the wedding. Don't even ask how I had this horrendous task dumped upon me for my own wedding, but now I have to make 90 of these suckers before the wedding and I am not happy about it.

sneak peek of now-completed afghan

2) I (finally) used my (not-so-new) KitchenAid stand mixer! I was super excited to receive it as an engagement gift back in June, but despite cooking dinner every night and baking regularly, never actually got around to using it. Generally, I mix by hand if I can (fewer dishes to wash) and if a mixer is called for, I just pull out the hand mixer (easier to pull out, plus I can use it in any size bowl). We're going to a potluck dinner tonight, and I'm trying my hand at two new recipes -- a mint chocolate cake and spanakopita. With all the spinach, the spanakopita was looking a little thick for my hand mixer, so I gave the stand mixer a whirl. I especially love that I can walk away for a moment and it keeps right on mixing! I promised that I would bring in chocolate chip pudding pumpkin bread (another new recipe I am itching to try) to our lab meeting on Monday morning, so maybe the stand mixer will make another appearance this weekend....

Considering that none of my projects in the lab ever wrap up nicely, it's nice to have something in my life which gives me the satisfaction of a job well done...