Defended.

Well, it's official: I've got some letters behind my name saying that I willingly dragged myself through hell and made it out alive (barely).

To me, the whole thing is becoming a blur. I'm guessing I should be grateful for this memory lapse--that I shouldn't take for granted how my body is doing me a favor by wiping the slate clean. I will say that I'm sure glad  writing my thesis and defending it is over. I will never have to do that again, and I am resting in that hard fact.

My mother and father traveled from Ohio to see my public seminar, and support me during this final step.   Tony's family was also planning on attending, but due to some emergency medical issues, remained in Missouri and sent their love from afar. I felt like a marathon runner whose buddies carried him the last few hundred feet. My feet were skittering on the pavement, while they gripped my waist and ran for me. I would have not made it without the direct support of my husband, family and close friends. I had my faith in God restored during these last, grueling moments as a graduate student. I believe He worked in the hearts of people I would have not expected to encourage me (people from my past, who I have not had contact with for months, and in one case, years).

There were so many tears and mini-breakdowns in the last couple of months. In retrospect, I'm actually impressed that I made it through. My favorite analogy, which is adapted from a coworker, is that I was like a balloon in a cactus patch. Any sudden or slight change in the wind would make me "pop" and question my ability to finish.

All this to say, I'm done! I have a doctorate in chemical biology. I've proven to my peers and my mentors that I'm pretty smart, and I'm capable. I'm looking forward to the next chapter of my life, and being in a different community of brilliant people. I'll certainly miss the majority of the people I worked with in my lab and my friends in the graduate program, but it's time for me to move on to something new. I feel electrified with excitement for what is to come.

I've put together a few photos from my defense, and the mini-shindig I had the day afterwards. Thank you so much to those who carried me those last few feet. You are forever my heroes.

A few photos were taken with my title slide. I wasn't profusely sweating yet...

Mom, Dad and Me!

Sweet Tones. I just love him so much.

In the thick of my presentation! This was the last photo Tony took, as he noticed the flash was bothering me :)...

My lab had a sweet celebration after my committee was done with me. I was gifted an awesome bowling shirt with "Doc" embroidered on it from one of my mentors!

Our little pavilion in Kit Carson Park was a nice (but chilly!) place to celebrate with a BBQ!

Amber made me a picaken. I made one for her defense, too! For those of you not familiar with a picaken, it's a pie baked inside of a cake. And yes, it is incredible.

Sweet friends and family--so thankful for all of them!

Glue

Tony, my puppers (pictured below) and Kee (not pictured) are all helping me hold it together.

24ish days until my thesis is due. 38ish days until my defense.

Yikes.

Still Here. Kinda.

I don't really have a whole lot to say, nor do I have a lot of time to say it. 

We're in the home stretch now--my thesis defense will be in about two months. I'm excited, overwhelmed and anxious. There's so much to do, and it feels like there's not enough time.

Anyway, here are a few photos from my garden. I pruned  my tomato plants because they were just too much for me to deal with right now. What really happened was a strange cathartic destruction of the plants involving me hacking away at them and then sitting in my front yard, sweating and crying. The next day I came back out to look at the damage (not that bad, just nicely trimmed back plants, really), and I brought my camera. No, you may not see a photo of the plants. THEY'RE FINE. 

There is such an astounding amount of life outside of our air conditioned, concreted world. The outside vibrates with life, and here I am, struggling to feel alive in the depths of finishing my graduate work. The irony is not lost on me, folks.

No color modifications here. This guy is really this bright.

Strawberry leaf.

Rushing, rushing, rushing. 

Eye sees you.

5 Year Anniversary Caravan Safari: Part 2

Ah, the rhinos.

Huge, lumbering beasts.

They act like me before I've had my coffee...but they do so all day long. Poor things.

"Hey, what are you lookin' at?"

Big ol' horns.

"Hey! Hey guys! Wait for me!"

Lazy Asian Rhino. We were allowed to feed these guys some apples if they came up to the truck. Too bad they were too preoccupied with being lazy lame-os. 

Two lazy females. Wait...is the one on the right stirring?

Nah. She's just opening her mouth to smell us better. This world is pretty weird.

There were lots of these deer pictures. I got bored scrolling through them, and I figured you would too. 

A great morning spent at the Safari park!

5 Year Anniversary: Caravan Safari! Pt. 1

It's hard to believe Tony and I have been married for 5 years. It seems like that number is too big and too small at the same time.

I'm blessed to have him as my husband, and I'm thankful for him everyday.

We decided to stay local for our 5 year anniversary, mostly because I'm desperately trying to finish my PhD and I can't afford to take a week off right now. Romantic, no?

So, we took a trip down the road to the San Diego safari park (about 5 miles from our house) and went on a special, 2 hour photo caravan safari. There were about a dozen of us on the truck total, so it was a nice, small group. We traveled around Africa and Asia, all while staying comfortably in Escondido :).

I took about 300 photos, and I didn't want to cram everything in one blog post (read: I got tired of editing), so here's the first part of our journey--namely feeding the giraffes!

Before the safari begins...

Oh hey! It's the ice cream truck. 

"Wait up guys!"

Tony made a friend...

The giraffes really liked Tony's head. They kept sniffing and nuzzling it. I was dying laughing...

Well done, Lisa. Very photogenic.

"You guys come back soon with some more Acacia leaves, K?"

Up next...RHINOS!